


The Pain of Dreaming

by sunnyappleseeds



Category: Free!
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Biting, Blood, Explicit Sexual Content, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, No Lube, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Rape, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Swimming Pools, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-02-10 18:29:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 17
Words: 27,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2035533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnyappleseeds/pseuds/sunnyappleseeds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sousuke had warned Haru to stay away from Rin, as he would only get in his way. However, the freestyle swimmer brushes off his advice, causing Sousuke to lash out against Haru. After suffering through the humiliation and pain caused by Rin's childhood friend, Haru found himself in a situation that no person should ever be forced to endure. WARNING: the interaction between Sousuke ad Haruka in this story is not romantic; their sexual interaction is nonconsensual, so please do not read this story if you are uncomfortable with such a harsh topic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I'm sorry for writing this... kind of. I just couldn't get the idea out of my head. But just so you know, I don't think this lowly of Sousuke. I actually like his character, but I could not resist writing this. Also, I am in no way saying that non-consensual sex is acceptable.

Even with his back pressed firmly into the frigid glass of a dimly lit vending machine and two muscular arms placed threateningly around his body, Haruka Nanase was able to conceal his fear within his defiant cerulean eyes. 

“Don’t ever get in Rin’s way again,” the deep, bellowing voice reverberated through the vending machine and sent a discontenting chill through Haru’s spine, “is that clear, Nanase?”

The man pinning Haru’s smaller frame to the drink dispenser narrowed his large turquoise orbs, observing the other’s mask of stoicism begin to crumble into a fearful expression. Shifting his gaze to avoid the scrutiny of Sousuke’s intense glare, the strictly freestyle swimmer placed one hand upon the larger male’s forearm and attempted to push him away. However, Sousuke did not budge from his looming position.

It would be a lie to say that Haruka was a weak man, but compared to the much taller and bulkier form of Yamazaki, he would hardly be considered a threat. It became quite clear that trying to escape from Sousuke’s grip was a mistake, for the larger male’s glare darkened upon seeing Haru’s insubordination. An enormous hand wrapped itself around Haru’s wrist and pried it off with bruising force, making sure to bend the joint in a painfully unnatural way in the process and forcing a gasp of pain to gurgle out of Haruka’s throat.

“I want you to stay away from him,” his tone took on a darker quality as he growled out the words, clearly angered by Haru’s unrelenting silence, “you’re nothing but a useless distraction that’s keeping him from achieving his goal. Rin has no need for someone like you in his life.”

That statement resonated deep within Haruka, stirring up a suppressed sense of anger. Sousuke didn’t know what Rin needed; he hadn’t been present when Rin was in that stage of utter misery, when he felt completely overwhelmed with anguish. Therefore, this brute had no business telling the person who pulled the shark out of his downward spiral to refrain from seeing him.

“You haven’t seen Rin in years,” Haru declared with renewed vigor, “so you shouldn’t try to make decisions for him.”

That was obviously not the answer Sousuke had been anticipating, and it seemed to set off a fire inside of his intimidatingly brawny body. Fingers laced themselves through silky strands of blackish blue hair and yanked Haru’s head back in a swift yet violent motion. The smaller male winced in pain before dropping his newly acquired drink to the tiled floor.

As Haru struggled to free himself from the harsh grip on his head, Sousuke’s expression grew more cynical. “It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since I saw him. I know what he wants more than you do, and you are getting in his way!” The exclamation was emphasized with a powerful yank of his midnight blue hair, forcing a muted whimper to escape Haru’s lips. “Do you think I haven’t noticed the way he looks at you? It’s painfully obvious that he wants more from you than you’re willing to give him, and it pisses me off.”

Haru was taken aback by those words. He was a rather observant person when it came to the people he truly cared about, so he was well aware of the affectionate glances that Rin often threw at him. However, Haru did not want to risk screwing up his and Rin’s newly rekindled companionship, so even though he harbored deeper feelings than a friendship and rivalry would allow, Haru felt that their relationship should not surpass certain boundaries for the time being. Therefore, the freestyle swimmer feigned indifference when it came to Rin’s not so subtle advances. 

“You don’t deserve to have him look at you like that, like he wants to fuck you senseless.” Sousuke lowly rumbled directly into Haruka’s ear, causing the more petite boy to tremble at the hot breath caressing his sensitive skin. Only a mere instant later, a warm wetness was connected to the side of his neck, lapping and sucking at the delicate flesh. 

A sense of urgency shot through Haru’s body when he realized that Sousuke was placing open-mouthed kisses along his exposed skin. He immediately jerked away from the undesirable action and began to squirm in Sousuke’s firm grip, using both hands to aid him in his escape. But the Samezuka swimmer only pushed him harder into the transparent side of the vending machine and let out a quiet snort of laughter. 

“Yamazaki,” Haru was utterly disappointed to hear the obvious discomfort in his voice, “stop it… what are you doing?”

Another dark chuckle slipped out of Sousuke’s throat before he pulled back to gaze down at the disgruntled face before him. “Maybe you should have let him fuck you. Then, you might have an idea of what I’m planning for you.”

Haru’s blue orbs widened in sheer panic; he was too stunned to speak as Sousuke’s words clicked in his mind. He knew the basics of how sex between men worked, thanks to Nagisa’s constant chattering about everything and anything, but he had never done it, and he definitely wasn’t consenting to it now… were Sousuke’s intentions truly so depraved?

When those large hands began to move down his torso and place feathery touches across Haru’s abdomen and that mouth resume its lewd meandering, the smaller teen’s hopeful doubt was erased. As he prepared to cry out in resistance, Sousuke shoved his knee between Haru’s toned legs and began kneading his clothed crotch, causing his target to elicit a strangled moan rather than a vehement protest.

Haru did not cease struggling against the dominant male, but his pushes were even less effective now that an overwhelming heat was consuming his body. The pressure of Yamazaki rubbing against his groin felt entirely too good considering that the act was unwelcome. He didn’t want to enjoy any part of this loathesome violation, yet his body was in opposition with his mind and continued to welcome every single bit of contact Sousuke’s body made with his own. 

“Let go…” Haru whined pitifully, though he knew that would get him nowhere; in fact, the pathetic objection only seemed to spur on his assaulter. He felt the band of his sweatpants strain against his lower back, indicating that Sousuke was slipping a hand down the front of them.

The larger male scoffed when his hand met the fabric of Haru’s jammers; he didn’t verbalize his opinion, but Haru knew that Sousuke was unamused upon discovering that a bathing suit was in place of regular undergarments. Unfortunately, Sousuke was undeterred by this factor and decided to pull down both articles of clothing in order to free Haru’s erection. 

When the cold air met his hardening length and the icy glass met his behind, Haru couldn’t suppress a lascivious gasp. The frigid air did not linger around his member for long, though, for a warm hand quickly brought the heat back to it, stroking and teasing the soft skin before encasing it within his potent grasp. The shorter male could not hold back the need for more friction and bucked his hips forward, releasing an involuntary pleased moan when his length slid against the other’s flesh.

“Someone’s enjoying this.” Sousuke said in what was possibly the most condescending tone Haru had ever heard. Not pausing with his motions for a moment, Sousuke slowly jerked Haru’s hard-on, using his thumb to swirl the glimmering beads of precum across the tip of the throbbing organ. With his other hand underneath Haru’s shirt, the larger teen teased the sensitive spots on his victim, occasionally attending to his nipples while his mouth went back to leaving marks on that creamy neck.

Only having touched himself in such a way before, Haru was already nearing a shameful release. His stomach muscles tightened, and his breathing became more erratic. His hips forcefully thrust forward with the intention of releasing a load of milky ribbons, but the anticipated climax did not arrive. Opening the eyes that he didn’t realize were screwed shut and gasping in frustration, Haru glanced down to see the same hand that was giving him guilty pleasure now secured around the base of his cock. Letting breathy groans of discontent fall incoherently from his mouth, the blue eyed swimmer jerked his head away from Sousuke’s vulgar lips, forcing the taller man to meet his frustrated yet wanton gaze. 

A smug grin was plastered across Sousuke’s face after witnessing the pure chagrin of his victim. “Did you really think I would let you come when you haven’t done anything for me?” 

The contact on his throbbing erection was lost and his entire body was whipped around, so his front side was now mashed against the vending machine, trapping his arms in a position that prohibited him from relieving his straining length. As he grunted in pain from being jammed against the large appliance, Haru could feel his jammers and pants being roughly yanked down to his knees, fully exposing his backside to Sousuke.

In a last-ditch effort to stop the impending violation, Haru thrashed against the illuminated surface, doing whatever he could to worm away from Sousuke.

“You should stop struggling if you know what’s good for you,” the statement had practically no effect on the flailing teen, but a hand tightly gripping his neck and several fingers brushing against the flesh near his puckered hole made him instantaneously freeze, “I was going to let you have some spit as lubrication, but since you haven’t been behaving for me, I changed my mind.”

Haru screwed his eyes shut and brought a hand to his mouth, biting down and nearly breaking the skin as he desperately held in a scream caused by the agony of Sousuke’s dry finger pushing into his unwillingly body. The pain from the intrusion was beyond excruciating as Haru’s tight ring of muscle was stretched in an unnatural way. 

“It’s unfortunate that you have to hold back those wonderful noises,” Sousuke added a second finger, and Haru dug his teeth into the flesh of his hand even harder than before, tasting metallic blood as it oozed from the self-inflicted wound, “but we wouldn't want anyone to hear you, now would we? I doubt you want anyone to see you in such a compromising situation… especially Rin.”

The smaller boy visibly cringed at the thought of having someone stumble across this scene. It was horribly degrading and humiliating, and while he knew that he was not at fault for this inconceivable defilement, Haru could not fathom the thought of being seen in his current predicament... it was scarring enough to endure this without spectators. 

For several more seconds, Sousuke wriggled and scissored his fingers within Haru’s taut entrance before removing them completely from the confines of his body. It was then that the sound of a zipper being tugged down met Haru’s ears. A chill wracked the young man’s frame as he attempted to mentally prepare for the Sousuke’s next action.

Rough palms latched onto his hips and something much more massive than fingers prodded at his backside. With a drawn out grunt, Sousuke plunged his solid erection within the depths of Haru’s tight heat, driving his entire length in with one rapid thrust. The ring of muscles surrounding Sousuke’s girth clenched and spasmed at the agonizing intrusion as a muffled scream slipped out around Haru’s bloodied hand. The pain was inexplicably worse than Haru had dared to imagine.

“God, you’re so tight,” Yamazaki breathed as he pulled out before fiercely slamming himself back in, “I feel like I’m going to rip you in half.” He continued to brutally penetrate the terribly unfortunate swimmer, repetitively slamming his enormous cock into Haru’s hole as the smaller boy’s muscles tore and crimson liquid dribbled out, lubricating his slightly loosened channel. 

“S-stop… please… it h-hurts…” Haru begged with a hoarse voice as tears pricked at the corners of his dulling eyes. 

Sousuke merely scoffed and yanked Haru’s hips back to push himself deeper. “I can see why Rin is so obsessed over you; you’re fucking adorable.” The larger male reached around to grip his unwilling partner’s dying member, stroking roughly in order to revive it. 

Haru gasped, arching his back as pleasure sickeningly mixed with the pain. He clawed at the smooth surface of the vending machine and ground his teeth together, trying to ignore the overwhelming smell of iron coming from his wounded hand. However, that was the last thing on his mind when an overly sensitive area within his body was struck by Sousuke’s massive length. 

After a few more targeted hits to his prostate and quick jerks to his erection, milky strings of white shot out from his body, coating Sousuke’s hand and the vending machine. A stifled howl filled with both ecstasy and horror rang out as Haru’s entire body tensed, his muscles clamping down on the cock still pounding into his raw behind.

It didn’t take long for Sousuke to follow suit when the heat surrounding his pulsating arousal contracted, creating more sweet friction than before. As his defiling fluids spewed inside of Haru, Sousuke bit down on the young man’s shoulder, nearly creating yet another section of broken skin on the teen’s battered body. 

His thrusting finally came to a stop as his cock softened, allowing it to slip out of the damaged entrance with relative ease. He removed his hands from Haru and took several steps back, watching as Haru limply slid to the floor, his face hidden from Sousuke’s view as sobs wracked his entire frame. 

The butterfly swimmer stared down with indifference as he readjusted his pants and smoothed his wrinkled shirt. “I take it you’re going to stay away from Rin now,” his tone had returned to its original coldness, though he struggled to keep it even in his breathless state of post-orgasm, “unless, of course, you want me to fuck you again, which I would be more than willing to do,” Haru only continued to tremble on the floor as Sousuke spoke, “you’d better clean yourself up, Nanase, and don’t forget to wipe the vending machine off. You made a mess on it. Oh, and don’t take too long,” he added with an eerie smirk, “I’m looking forward to our race.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to tell me what you thought, but please be nice about it! I don't know when I'll update as I'm currently working on another story, but I will be adding more chapters soon! The next chapters will mainly be focused on how Haru deals with this situation and the way his friends react when they discover what happens.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this update is way later than I had planned, but I had to take an unexpected trip and didn't have my laptop with me. This chapter is also shorter than I wanted to make it, but I really wanted to give you something to let you know I'm still working on it!

While the faint light radiating from the vending machine continued to illuminate the area surrounding his listless body, Haru could see only the veil of darkness shrouding his previously pleasant reality, for his life was far from pleasing after that horrendous encounter with Sousuke Yamazaki. 

As the salty tears shimmering in his cerulean eyes plummetted to the floor, the swimmer stared at the mess surrounding his desecrated form. There was blood mingling with semen as it pooled around him, saturating the navy fabric of his pants and making his urge to vomit sharply rise. Yet he suppressed the need to do so, as there was already a huge puddle of grotesque liquid in need of cleaning. 

Haru slowly moved his body, and though it vehemently protested with each millimeter of movement, he managed to pull his jammers back into their original position and pulled his soiled sweatpants off. Since they were already completely ruined, he decided to utilize them to erase the evidence of his regrettable experience with Sousuke. He tried to be quick as he wiped away all traces of the encounter, praying that no one would be thirsty enough to traverse this hallway in search of a bottled drink.

The boy finished cleaning his dirtied surroundings and slumped back down, his body feeling too fatigued and battered to move anymore. However, is was essential that he moved, for remaining in this spot was simply not an option he had the luxury of accepting, as someone would inevitably end up stumbling across him, and he absolutely would not allow that to happen. What if it happened to be an innocent child? Or perhaps one of his teammates? 

What if it was Rin…?

No. Haru knew that he had to escape from this location before his mind could wander any further into the abyss in which it was currently descending, as he would be completely paralyzed if the depths of his despair were to claim the entirety of his being. So, with wobbling legs, unsteady footing, and a throbbing pain running through his spine, Haru unfolded his body until he was in an upright, albeit slightly hunched, position. 

Knowing that there was a bathroom nearby that he could use a shelter from the rest of the population, Haru staggered out of the dimly lit hallway, forcing his mind to ignore the immense discomfort surging throughout his entire frame. With the various events occurring in the pool area, very few guests were meandering in this portion of the building. However, those who were gave Haru looks of concern and unease upon seeing the blood crusted on his lips and hand, not to mention the balled up trousers that were completely drenched in the horrifying crimson liquid. 

He did what he could to ignore them, but their worried glances and troubled stares gnawed at his already traumatized mind, for their unease towards his appearance only served to further validate the tragedy brought unto him by Sousuke. 

Thankfully, the restroom happened to be closer than he had initially recalled, so Haru was already standing in its threshold. He slung the door open and tumbled inside, practically falling onto the pristinely tiled floor before regaining his rather sloppy balance and rushing to one of several stalls. Fumbling with the lock, Haru could feel the slightest bit of relief lingering about, for he had successfully removed himself from the wretched scene of his attack, but that also meant that there was nothing but visions of Sousuke’s brutality to fill his thoughts any longer…

The sickness filling his gut before came rushing back as a foul taste flooded Haru’s mouth. The swimmer fell to his knees and clutched the toilet’s porcelain bowl, dropping his sopping pants in the process. His stomach muscles clenched in an almost painful way as he heaved the remnants of his previous meal into the sterilized basin of water. 

As Haru continued to dry heave after every ounce of bile had been expelled from his turbulent stomach, his ears caught the sound of the men’s room door quietly swinging open. With his thoughts in such a jumbled up state of torture, the poor boy immediately assumed the worst, deeming that the approaching person had to be Sousuke returning for yet another round of immoral torment. 

“Haru?” 

The blue eyed teen knew this voice, and it was not that of a shameless violator. This voice was kind; it was gentle and offered a familiar comfort that only one person had ever given to Haruka. This voice belonged to Makoto. However, the natural solace that Haru always found within his best friend’s tone did little to relax the young man. He was simply too distraught.

“Haru? The relay is starting soon. Are you in here?” Makoto called along the line of bathroom stalls, hoping to elicit an answer from behind one of the doors, but Haruka could not allow his best friend to see him in such a debauched and broken state, so he retained the silence he was desperately clinging to.

A sigh of frustration resounded before Haru heard yet another quiet swish of the door scraping across slick tiles. 

 

\---------

 

“I couldn’t find him anywhere,” there was clear unease in Makoto’s voice as he spoke to his fellow team members, “I checked the locker room, the bath room, and the lobby, but he wasn’t in any of those places.”

“But the relay is starting in a few minutes…” Nagisa stated with a look of worry overtaking his normally cheerful face. 

The three present swimmers from Iwatobi were all deeply concerned at the moment, for they all found Haru’s absence rather unsettling. It was a well-known fact that Haruka could never resist the urge to submerge himself in water, be it the bath or the ocean, yet he seemed to have completely vanished without so much as a single caress from his beloved water. 

“Perhaps he is with Rin-san?” Rei offered his theory, for he knew that it was not uncommon for the two rivals to rile each other up before a competition.

“I thought that, too,” Makoto replied, “but Rin is in the locker room with his team, and he said that he hasn’t seen Haru since the kickboard race started.”

“We can’t swim without Haru-chan,” the petite blond noted, “what are we going to do?”

“I guess we’ll have to tell Coach Sasabe that we can’t compete,” Makoto reluctantly answered, “then we can find Haru.” The three young men shared a look of uncertainty, and while they all silently acknowledged that cancelling the race would be a rather unceremonious action, it would be impossible to participate with only three swimmers, and they were in agreement that locating Haruka was far more important than a leisurely competition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter! I know it wasn't uber exciting, but the content was necessary for development, and for those of you wondering, Rin is going to play a big part in the story, and Sousuke hasn't finished wreaking havoc quite yet.... Comments, suggestions, and questions are all appreciated! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So again, this is way later than I planned.... Whoops... But I'm still working on it and plan on continuing! I'm just really bad about updates, especially since this story is difficult to write (since it's so dark.) It takes a lot of time to figure out how the chapters are going to be set up and what exactly they should focus on. I hope you enjoy!

It was a highly uncomfortable for Haruka to walk from the newly reopened swim club back to his modest yet charming home, but he somehow managed to trudge his way through the streets and arrive at his house without crumbling to the ground in the process. However, his condition was far from robust. He winced with every step and breathed in a pattern that was ragged and unpredictable, yet when he staggered through the front door and into a familiar foyer, Haru could feel the slightest semblance of tranquility wash over him.

However, that sense of relief had completely vanished as the sun began to drift below the horizon, casting a harsh hue of orange through the glass planes of Haruka's bathroom window. Steam from the recently filled bathtub mingled with the golden glow as the young man stared down his reflection in the mirror, assessing the damage caused by that ferocious affair. 

He had rid himself of all clothing several moments ago, so there was nothing to hide the marks slowly forming upon his slender figure. His hips were lined with red welts from Sousuke's bruising grip, and the junction between his left shoulder and neck was sporting an obscene contusion derived from the harsh bite Haru had received. While those injuries appeared to be rather nasty, the various fluids caked upon his nether regions triumphed as the most horrific sight, for it was the only true evidence that could validate the encounter as one of sexual aggression. 

Relinquishing a sigh filled with grievance, Haru located a wash cloth and began to scrub the grimy substance from his crotch. After several short moments of diligently wiping away the filth, the young man deemed himself worthy of entering the steamy bathtub. 

As his body sunk into the warm liquid, the tension built up in his muscles began to gradually relax, as water was a medium that had always been able to soothe his qualms, yet that calming effect was to a much lesser degree today, for not even Haru's precious water could take the edge off of this severe situation. Haruka put forth his best effort in attempts to ease his mind, but even thoughts of swimming with his cherished friends hardly altered the negativity clouding his thoughts. 

However, his mental activity ceased when a noise resounded from the first floor of his home. He stilled his movements in order to keep the water from sloshing around, allowing his ears to focus solely on the ruckus emanating from the ground level. 

"Haru-chan's bag is here!" Haruka immediately felt a surge of panic course through his body. 

"He's probably upstairs, then." 

"If that idiot is in taking a damn bath, I'm going to drown him." 

"Rin-chan, don't be so mean..." 

The voices were then replaced by heavy footsteps as Haru's friends began to clomp their way up the staircase. On instinct, the dark haired teen jumped up and clambered out of the tub, splashing water unceremoniously onto the floor before racing towards the bathroom door. 

Between the slick tiles and pain jolting through his battered backside, the freestyle swimmer nearly tumbled to the floor, yet he miraculously managed to reach his desired location without further damaging his decrepit body. The wooden barricade slammed shut as Haru collided with it, creating a blockade between himself and his unwelcome company, for he did not want anyone to see him... not in such an utterly fragile state of both physicality and mentality. 

"What the hell was that?" Rin's voice was muffled as it filtered through the door; he and the others had obviously heard the commotion as Haru hurriedly bolted the lock to prevent his guests from discovering his horrid condition, and based solely upon the bruises marring his otherwise flawless skin, all of his companions would be able to easily figure out that he had been sexually assaulted, and that was something he was currently not - if ever - prepared to discuss. 

Before another moment had the chance to pass, the door's metallic handle began to jiggle before a defeated sigh came from the hallway. 

"Haru?" It was the same person that had called out to him in the swim club's restroom; the voice was still laced with great concern. "Are you okay in there?"

Haru did not want to deceive the friends that stood mere inches away, albeit sealed off from accessing him, yet the thought of pronouncing the truth was unbearable, as it would force him to recall the experience and mentally endure it again. 

"...I'm fine." 

That answer was not sufficient for any of the swimmers, especially Rin. 

"You're not fine," the redhead's intonation was as offensive as his jagged teeth, "you wouldn't have skipped the race if you were fine, so what the hell happened? Why'd you leave?" 

"I got sick." The weak way in which he spoke those words supported the false claim. 

"Then you could have said something instead of just wandering off!" Samezuka's freestyle swimmer angrily responded. "God, you can be such a dumb ass. Do you know how worried you made us?" 

While Rin utilized the word 'us' when voicing his concern, Haru could easily interpret that the redhead was specifically referring to himself rather than the group as a whole. It was reassuring to know that Rin cared so much for him, yet at the same time, it deeply worried Haru, for Sousuke had claimed that those affections were the reason for his cruel punishment. And though the dark haired boy knew that Rin was in no way responsible for the horrific encounter with one of the nation's top butterfly swimmers, he could not shake off the apprehension he now held towards Rin, for Sousuke had made it perfectly clear that Haru was not to be near his closest rival. 

"...sorry." The multicolored tiles of the floor reflected in Haru's cerulean eyes as he choked back a wave of sobs, trying his absolute hardest to keep the anguish from escaping his body. 

"You don't need to apologize, Haru-chan," Nagisa reassured his childhood friend, presuming that Haruka must be feeling extremely ill, "we just want you to feel better." 

"I could recommend a variety of medications if you describe your symptoms." Rei added, hoping to aid his senpai in any way possible. 

There was only silence in response to the generosity offered by his closest companions. 

"Could you unlock the door, Haru?" The person considered by all to be the dolphin's best friend broke through the quiet atmosphere in an attempt to bring this issue to a close, yet even Makoto's plea was futile. 

"No. You should all go home. I'll be fine." It was a bit odd for Haru to speak more than a few words at a time, which made his friendly intruders slightly more on edge than before. 

"We aren't leaving until you tell us what the hell is going on." It was Rin again; he was truly relentless force when it came to things he felt genuinely passionate about - Haru being one of them. 

Though, not everyone felt that pressuring Haruka to speak was the best option. 

"Okay," Makoto gave in to Haru's demands; he always had caved in quickly when it came to this boy, "we'll leave."

"What are you-" the shark began to protest after Makoto relented, but a quiet mumbling interrupted the onslaught of angry expressions that were bound to spout from Rin's rather vulgar mouth. After a few more moments of the indiscernible murmuring, the shuffling of feet could be heard once again as the four boys retreated towards the stairs, granting Haru the solitude that he had requested. 

 

\---------

 

It had been approximately half an hour since Haruka was being questioned through the door, and he had finally decided that staring at his brimming tub was a fruitless activity. Finally unlocking the handle, the young swimmer exited the room and crossed the hall before grabbing a fresh set of clothes from his dresser. 

Once he was properly garbed, the boy could feel a slight twinge of hunger growing in his stomach, which was not overly surprising since he had recently lost his last meal, and though Haru's mind did not necessarily want to deliberate over food at the moment, his bodily desires demanded some form of sustenance. Therefore, he settled with the idea of frying a few pieces of his favorite fish in order to satisfy his churning gut. 

The stairs were unforgiving towards the strokes of pain assaulting his body, yet the physical affliction kept his mind occupied, graciously allowing him to focus on something other than the paranoia and anxiety slinking around in his head and gnawing at his consciousness. 

However, he had to keep himself together, and as difficult as that might and would be, Haruka felt obligated to do so... not only for his sake, but also for that of his friends... for Rin. 

As he shook his head in a haphazard attempt to stray from that agonizing subject, Haru's attention was captured by a figure seated on the step in the foyer, a figure with a remarkably similar stature to Sousuke. An immediate burst of fear engulfed Haru when he saw an unannounced man sitting in the entryway, but the tremors coursing through his frame subsided as he realized that this person was not a threat. Yet his appearance still resembled that of a panicked child when the other male turned to view him. 

"What's wrong? Haru?" Makoto rapidly scrambled towards the teen upon seeing those brilliant blue orbs overtaken with terror. The bigger swimmer attempted to place a soothing hand on his friend's shoulder, but the contact forced Haru to flinch away, as the idea of being touched was quite unsettling after having Sousuke's hands roam his unwilling body. 

Haru tried to regulate his breathing as he dropped to the stairs, plopping down on one of the wooden steps in attempt to collect himself before facing Makoto. 

"Haru, what happened?" The muscular brunet squatted in front of the uncharacteristically jumpy swimmer, forcing the clearly uncomfortable teen to meet his gaze. 

"I'm..." Haru began before pausing, needed to take several more breaths to make his voice less strained. "I'm not feeling well." 

On normal occasions, such a response would satisfy his best friend, as he rarely pressed Haru for answers that the phenomenal swimmer was reluctant to give, but Makoto was not willing to accept that today; the circumstances were simply too bizarre for him to drop the subject. 

"You can tell me the truth," Makoto tried not to push too hard, yet he felt the need to coax the actual answer out of Haru, "we've been friends long enough for me to know when you're lying, Haru. I don't want to force you to tell me something that you don't want to, but I'm really worried about you... I saw your jacket in the laundry room when the others were here, and there were blood stains on it. I thought maybe you got hurt, but when you panicked and wouldn't let us see you, I figured that something really bad must have happened and told them that I would handle it, so please, Haru, tell me what's going on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, but based on my efforts thus far, probably in about two weeks? Again, I'm sorry for taking so long to update, but with the stuff I'm planning on writing, I have to make sure that I set it up right in the early chapters. As always, suggestions, comments, and questions are welcome, but please be nice! Thanks guys!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is pretty quick for me! Yay! I want to apologize in advance if there are any errors in this chapter. I've been sick for a few days and my proofreading and editing probably aren't as good since my head has been throbbing... If you see any mistakes, please let me know! Thanks and enjoy!

Haru's black tresses hung over his eyes, shielding his conflicting emotions as they danced about in his blue irises and threatened to escape in the form of salty tears. 

"Makoto..." The young man began, voice faltering as he decided upon an appropriate response. "I... can't tell you." 

Before commenting on Haru's refusal, the brunet analyzed the information he had been able to obtain: since Haru had seemingly been in perfect condition prior to arriving at Coach Sasabe's natatorium, Makoto surmised that his friend's dilemma must have arisen during the limited time he had been at the swim club, which could have been no more than a single hour. Yet whatever occurred in that time slot had been severe enough for a boy completely and utterly obsessed with water to evacuate an area filled with nothing but the chlorinated substance.... and then there was the bloodied jacket, which suggested that something other than illness was the cause for Haruka's obvious suffering. 

"Why can't you tell me?" There was no anger or frustration attached to the question, for Makoto was not upset with Haru in the least bit. He merely wanted to discover the source of his closest teammate's odd behavior and clear unease, as it genuinely upset him to see Haruka in this state of turmoil. 

"...I just can't." Haru averted his gaze from Makoto's emerald eyes, knowing that his emotions would overflow if he were to meet that patient expression. 

"You can't or you don't want to?" The gentle manner in which Iwatobi's captain spoke was crushing Haru; it beckoned him to reveal the truth, yet there was a cruel part of his conscious coercing him into deception, making Makoto's kindness feel as though it were a ton of bricks threatening to squash his tormented soul. 

"...stop," he whispered, desperately trying to restrain his body's desire to shed unspilt tears, "I'll be fine... just please, Makoto, please stop." 

The dam that had been successfully holding back the salty water had finally shattered, completely crumbling as water poured down the swimmer's face and dribbled off of his angular chin. 

"Haru..." This sight was unprecedented, as Makoto had never witnessed his aloof companion in such a miserable state; in fact, he could not recall a single instance in which Haruka had actually cried. Acting in accordance with his protective instincts, the brunet reached out to Haru and placed a hand upon his bent knee, hoping that the gesture would help the young man relax. 

While direct contact with his skin was blocked by the plush fabric of his sweatpants, the touch caused an instantaneous hysteria to course through Haru's veins. 

"Don't!" His voice was abnormally loud as he hastily scurried away from the large palm, accidentally slamming his already aching back into one of the solid, oaken steps as he evaded Makoto's hand. 

As his body convulsed with a renewed sense of pain, Makoto immediately drew back, severely distraught over Haru's extreme reaction, desperately wanting to aid the hysterical boy in any way possible. However, Makoto had absolutely no clue how to go about such a task, so he simply watched as his teammate forcibly calmed himself. 

"I'm sorry," the youth refused to meet his friend's gaze as his heart rate returned to a steady pace, "please, don't touch me." 

"There's no need to apologize," Makoto replied, remaining an arm's length away from Haru's trembling body, "I should be the one apologizing... I didn't mean to upset you." 

"It's... it's not your fault," the words were barely audible as Haru choked them out, "it's because... because he...." The swimmer trailed off as yet another violent tremor shook his fragile frame. 

"It's okay, Haru; you don't have to say anything else," the brunet was not entirely sure that he should be silencing his friend when the boy was seemingly so close to revealing the truth, yet Makoto did not want to put any more unnecessary pressure on him, "I shouldn't have pushed you to tell me about it... I'm sorry, and I want you to know that no matter what, I am always here for you." 

 

\---------

 

It had been several days since that horrible incident, yet no further light had been shed on the truth of Haru's ordeal; not a single person other than himself and Sousuke knew the reality behind what had happened. And thankfully, no one had questioned him regarding the occurrence after he had spoken with Makoto, for the brunet devised a story in order to keep their friends from prying, as he knew all too well that Haru would be unable to cope with his friends' inevitable interrogations. 

In fact, for the last few days, Haru had skipped school entirely, needing the time to settle his scrambled mind before being thrust back into his daily routine. By Thursday of that week, however, the welts littering his creamy flesh had vanished, erasing the visible traces of his adversities. And with the majority of his physical afflictions resolved, the blue eyed youth decided that it was time to return to Iwatobi High School, hoping that if nothing else, attending classes would force his thoughts away from this predicament for at least a couple of hours. 

Nagisa and Rei were ecstatic to see their team's star swimmer back amongst the living, and throughout the day, they continuously asked him questions pertaining to his health, as Makoto had lead them to believe that Haru had simply caught a nasty case of the flu. Haru responded to their flurry of questions with rather curt statements, but it did not unsettle either of the second year students, for Haru consistently spoke in such a manner. 

Makoto, on the other hand, realized that his best friend's behavior was not quite on par with his typical demeanor, yet he refrained from stating this observation. Instead, he kept a close eye on Haruka throughout the day, meticulously watching over the teen as the school day slowly drew to a close. 

"You don't have to come to practice if you don't want to," Makoto noted once classes had ended, "I can always tell the others that you still aren't feeling well; you shouldn't push yourself." 

Haruka shook his head in response; he wanted to swim, to feel the liquid glide around his body. It had been nearly a full week since his body had last accepted the embrace of the water, and Haru knew that being in its presence would offer him solace in a way that nothing else ever could. 

"It's okay," he replied as they strolled down the path leading the school's dank pool house, "I want to." 

Makoto could see the anticipation in those crystalline eyes as his best friend made that declaration; it had been a sight that was vacant from Haru's expression for the last few days. 

"Okay," he still felt a bit of apprehension towards the idea, as Haru was still a bit out of sorts, "but you don't have to stay if it gets overwhelming."

Haru did not respond to Makoto's suggestion, so there was nothing but silence as they continued their journey towards the club house, yet upon arriving at its main entrance, the peaceful atmosphere was broken by a ruckus radiating from within the building's walls. 

"I wonder what they're doing in there..." Makoto grumbled as he gripped the handle and pried the heavy door open, attempting to predict what sort of situation Nagisa had concocted in order to make so much noise. 

However, the mischievous blond was not in Makoto's line of vision once the door had been flung open. Instead, his eyes were introduced to a crowd of young men clad in a wide variety of jammers. 

"Who are..." Makoto began but trailed off as he began to recognize many of the faces; he could not associate names with most of the people, but he was certain that this large group of teens belonged to Samezuka's Swim Club. 

As the large male started to turn his head back towards Haru, two figures caught his attention, preventing him from witnessing the panicked expression present on his best friend's face, for the dark haired boy had deduced that Sousuke must be somewhere in this lot of people, and that thought completely terrified him, his fear only growing stronger when he saw the two swimmers that Makoto was fixated on. 

"Hi Rin," Iwatobi's captain addressed one of the approaching pair before smiling at the other, "Yamazaki-kun, it's nice to see you again. I didn't know your team was coming here to practice today."

Sousuke acknowledged the greeting with a nod before shifting those dangerous, turquoise eyes towards the man he victimized; a disgruntling smirk played at his lips when he met Haru's frightened gaze. 

"Our pool's pH levels are off, so we can't use it until that gets straightened out," Rin sighed, clearly annoyed at the inconvenience, "Gou said that we could practice here while they're fixing it." He finished the quick explanation before glancing at Haru, noticing that his favorite rival appeared awfully lightheaded. "Still sick, Haru?" 

"Uh... yeah..." He mumbled in a barely audible voice, afraid to engage the redhead in any sort of conversation with Sousuke being in such close proximity. 

"Why the hell are you here, then?" Rin asked, clearly unperturbed by the softness with which Haruka spoke. "You're going to get worse if you swim like that. Besides, it wouldn't be any fun to race you when you're on the verge of passing out." 

"Haru, you don't have to stay if you don't feel well," Makoto added after finally catching a glimpse of how shaken the smaller male seemed, "I'll walk you home if you want." 

"I... um..." 

"If you're still feeling ill, you should probably go home, Nanase," Sousuke stated, fooling all but Haru with his false compassion, "racing Rin could make you just as sick as you were a few days ago, and you wouldn't that to happen, would you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! Again, if you saw mistakes, feel free to let me know! Comments and suggestions are appreciated! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that this is so much later than I was planning on updating! I decided to rewrite a part of the chapter when I finished it since I wanted to change how a certain thing is going to happen. Also, I didn't really go through this for errors since I wanted to get it up as soon as I could, so if you see errors or mistakes, please let me know. Nevertheless, it's finally up now! I hope you enjoy!

Haruka's azure eyes were trained upon Sousuke's face, absorbing the taller male's subtle threat to personally plunge Haru back into the darkness that was so eagerly grasping at him. 

"Makoto," the intimidated swimmer began before breaking away from Sousuke's eerie gaze, "could you-" the plea to have his best friend escort him away from this crowd was cut short, for an interruption in the form of Nagisa prevented the rest of Haru's words from spilling out. 

"Haru-chan! Why haven't you changed yet?" The shortest swimmer asked as his humongous eyes stared at the man in question. "Hurry up and put on your swimsuit!" Impatience and excitement radiated off of the club's shortest swimmer, for he was truly ecstatic to be able to swim alongside Haru after nearly a week of no contact with the dark haired teen. 

"Nagisa-kun," a glimmer of light bounced off of Rei's glasses as he stumbled through the overly crowded area in pursuit of the blond, "don't pester him. He may not be feeling up to swimming yet." 

"But at lunch, he said he was fine," Nagisa chirped in his overly cheery manner, "right, Haru-chan?" 

Haru was on the verge of stating that he was beginning to feel ill again, that he desperately needed to get out of this place, but the words caught in his throat when Nagisa latched onto his shoulders and began pulling him towards the wall of lockers. Having the blond cling to him in such a way was nothing out of the ordinary, for Nagisa was known for being an extremely handsy person, yet Haruka's mindset had not relinquished the idea that physical contact would inevitably cause him to suffer. 

"Get off!" The panicked holler echoed throughout the room, causing the dwindling crowd of swimmers to grow quiet. 

As pure instinct to protect himself overwhelmed the common sense that was battling for control of his actions, Haru ripped Nagisa's body away from his own and shoved him in the opposite direction in which he was previously being dragged, causing the surprised blond to ungracefully tumble onto the concrete floor. 

Everyone watched in a state of utter shock as Nagisa's hip collided with the harsh ground, forcing the innocent boy to yelp in pain before awkwardly twisting his body to gape at Haru, who was wearing a similar expression as he realized exactly what he had done. 

Within the next instant, Rin was shooing his remaining subordinates to the pool, Rei was kneeling beside Nagisa to ensure that he had not sustained any serious injuries, Makoto was silently trying to draw a conclusion to Haru's unpredictable behavior, and Sousuke simply watched in amusement before joining his teammates outside. 

Once the pool house was completely cleared - save for Rin and the four Iwatobi swimmers - all eyes were focused on Haru. 

"Haru-chan, I'm sorry..." Nagisa, who was still in a rather uncomfortable position on the floor, was the first to speak. However, he sounded rather uncertain, as though he was not entirely sure why he should be remorseful yet discerned that an apology was necessary. 

"Why are you apologizing, Nagisa?" Rin sounded quite annoyed that the blond was offering consolation. "You didn't do anything to be sorry for. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be Haru." 

"I think that being sick is making him a little jumpy," Makoto immediately dove into the conversation in order to defend Haru, who was still rendered speechless. 

"A 'little jumpy?' He practically threw Nagisa on the floor!" The redhead vehemently protested against Makoto's claim. 

"I didn't mean to..." The teen that Makoto and Rin were arguing over finally decided to represent himself. 

"Then why did you?" Rei inquired, keeping his voice calm when he spoke. He knew that his senpai would not act rashly unless he had a legitimate reason to do so, yet the spectacled man was discontented over the fact that Nagisa had gotten injured due to Haru's seemingly unjustified violence. 

"Because I..." Haruka began before his voice faltered. Silence swirled within the four walls of the building as the panicked swimmer tried to muster the courage to finish his statement, yet he only grew more timid as the seconds ticked by, eventually concluding that the burden of his misfortune must be carried solely on his shoulders. No one else should be forced to take on that weight, even if its mass was far too much for a single person to bear. 

"Come on, Haru, I'll take you home," upon seeing that horribly distraught expression plastered on the freestyle swimmer's face, Makoto decided that he needed to step in, "Rin, you should probably get back to your team, and Nagisa, make sure to ice your hip after practice, okay? I'll see you tomorrow."

As Makoto ushered Haru out the door, the three other swimmers simply stared in silence, all a bit dumbstruck by the brunet's sudden interjection. 

Rin's carmine eyes narrowed and turned to face the door obscuring the outdoor pool. "What the hell is going on?" He inaudibly grumbled before strutting outside to join his teammates. 

 

\---------

 

After being successfully delivered to his place of residence, Haru quickly offered his gratitude and attempted to seal the door before Makoto could gain entry, as he did not want to engage in any further discussions at the moment. However, his arm was unable to slide the door closed faster than Makoto was able to step into the foyer. 

"Haru, please," those emerald eyes were begging - pleading - with the smaller teen to stop pushing him away, "tell me what's wrong."

Haruka turned away from Makoto, stepped out of his shoes, and started down the hallway. "I don't feel like talking." 

It was beyond obvious that he was dismissing Makoto's presence, hoping that evasion would cause the brunet to take his leave. 

"I know you don't," he replied, sloppily kicking his shoes to the side and rushing after Haru, "but I can't just keep watching when I know that you're suffering! I want to help you, but I can't do that unless you tell me what's going on."

"There's nothing you can do," Haru harshly declared, his inflection feigning annoyance rather than expressing the desperation that he truly felt, "I'll be fine."

"Maybe you will be, but you're not right now." Makoto continued to pursue Haru as he began to plod up the stairs. 

"Leave me alone, Makoto," Haruka's voice became elevated as he ascended the stairs; it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain any form of composure as the conversation dragged on, "this has nothing to do with you." 

"Then who is involved in this?" That obviously struck a nerve, as Haru visibly tensed and slowed his pace for a moment. "Someone hurt you, right? That's why your jacket had blood on it and why you are uncomfortable with people touching you..."

Makoto's voice ceased to flow when Haru halted on the top stair, pivoting to face his taller, albeit currently shorter due to their positions on the staircase, best friend. 

"I don't want to deal with this right now!" Haru's speech from before, which had been louder than usual, sounded muted compared to his current volume. "Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

Makoto was stunned at Haruka's outburst, for the smaller boy had never before been provoked to this level of infuriation. Animosity, however, did not seem to be the direct cause behind this eruption. No, rather than acting in accordance with anger, Haru had lashed out due to his growing sense of entrapment, behaving in a similar manner to that of cornered animal attempting to deter its impending fate.

Makoto's gaze had not shifted an inch throughout Haruka's burst of emotion; his green eyes were trained upon the other's pained expression the whole time, absorbing the anguish claiming Haru's angular features. 

"Haru, I do understand that-"

"No, you don't! You have no idea!" A second wave of petulance interrupted Makoto's attempt at consolation. "You don't get it at all, and it wouldn't change anything if I told you about what he did!" 

Haruka immediately hushed himself, not wanting to divulge any more information than his rage coaxed out of him, before taking hurried strides towards the bathroom, leaving Makoto aghast on the stairs. After the door had been slammed and locked, Haru broke apart once again, falling into an unsightly fit of hysterics as his emotional threshold was once again breached.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? I'm super excited to get feedback for this chapter! Please feel free to tell me whatever you thought, but please be nice :) I'll try to update faster than this time, but no promises.... College is keeping me super busy!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray! Another chapter for my lovely readers! Thank you all for reading and commenting; this story has gotten so much more positive feedback than I ever imagined! I'm truly thankful to all of you :) also, this chapter is a little on the short side, but it's just right for setting up the next chapter ;)

The soft glow of fluorescent lights danced off of the water's rippling surface as Haru hoisted his languid body out of the tub. He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been soaking in the translucent liquid, yet the sun had long since abandoned the sky, indicating that at least a few hours must have ticked by as he moped in solitude. 

It was rather pointless to focus on such a trivial subject - especially when his life was in shambles - so Haru decided to dispel the topic from his mind in order to sleep on his problems, hoping that a solution would miraculously greet him with the morning sun. Though, as the teen finished pulling on his pajamas and settling into his cushy mattress, Haru came to the conclusion that sleep was not a viable option, for he was simply too wound up to be whisked away into dreamland. 

His surroundings did not aid in his quest to dose off, either. Being within the confines of his own home, one would believe that Haruka's qualms should dissipate with the safety and familiarity emanating from within these walls, yet that is a false assumption. Though the boy knew that this is a place of sanctity - a place that would shield him from enduring more of Sousuke's nightmarish torture - the repercussions caused by that utterly demoralizing event haunted the young man's home, for it was here that Rin scolded his supposed careless actions, that Makoto feared for him, and that he drove everyone else away and backed himself into a corner in which redemption did not exist. 

So, rather than laying here and trying to sort through the many voices screaming within his distraught head, Haru decided that he needed to drown his sorrows; though, his method of doing so consisted of a chlorinated substance rather than an alcoholic one. 

Clambering our of bed and tossing his pajamas haphazardly onto the floor, the young man rifled through his dresser in search of his favorite pair of jammers before stretching the black and violet garment over his thin hips. After completing his outfit with a pair of loose sweatpants and an old sweatshirt, Haru grabbed his key and wandered off into the night. 

 

\---------

 

The unique aroma of chlorine overwhelmed Haruka's olfactory sense as he stood by Iwatobi High School's pool, staring in wonder as the moonlight frolicked atop the oscillating body of water and created a shimmering replica of the starry sky above. A gentle breeze grazed the water, jostling the pristine reflection as well as ruffling Haru's midnight blue fringe as he began to remove his unnecessary clothing. 

After dropping his shirt to the cement, Haruka kicked his shoes to the side and started to fiddle with the strings securing his pants in place. However, his nimble fingers ceased their ministrations when the gaudy sound of a slamming door thundered behind him. 

Before he had gained a sufficient amount of time to glance towards the source of said noise, Haru heard a voice that sent a wave of panic pulsating down his spine. 

"Well, isn't this a surprise?" The voice inquired, its tone threateningly dark. 

"What are you doing here, Yamazaki?" Haru asked, his own voice slightly trembling as he examined the surrounding area for an escape from the impending threat. However, with Sousuke blocking the one and only entrance to the pool house, his options for fleeing from the scene were severely limited.

"I happened to lose my wallet today," Sousuke replied, grinning as he watched Haru fidget under his gaze, "and I can't get into the dorms without my card. Don't worry, though," he added, holding up a leather rectangle for the other male to view, "I found it on the floor in there; it probably fell out of my bag since I was rushing to catch the train." 

Haruka was barely listening to Sousuke's story; it held no value to him, for the only thing of importance at the current time was getting away from this horrible man. He could always try to scramble over the chain-link fence if Sousuke approached him, though he was uncertain if he would be able to clambered over the top of it before the taller male caught him - either way, it was the only real option he had should the situation escalate to such a point. 

"You seem awfully nervous tonight, Nanase," Sousuke mused, that condescending smirk still plastered on his face, "do you really find me that scary?" 

"You found your wallet, so you should leave." 

The larger male snorted at that. "Leave? I'm not ready to do that quite yet. You see," Sousuke's tall frame began taking long strides towards Haru, "there are obviously a few things you still need to learn." 

Haruka instinctively took a few steps back, his heels now resting on the lip of the pool. "I haven't been talking to Rin," Haru desperately tried to negotiate his way out of the situation, "I've stayed away from him... I-I did what you told me to do!" The swimmer was in panic mode now. His plans for hopping the fence had fallen through, as his current position would not allow him to avoid Sousuke if he tried to bolt from this chain-link cage. 

"Yeah, I can't argue with that," Sousuke's large body hovered mere inches away from his smaller victim, "but you're still screwing with him. He hasn't been able to focus on anything for the last week; want to know why?" Sousuke paused for a brief moment, glaring at Haruka with menacing eyes. "Because there is something wrong with his precious little Haru! 

"I would be lying if I said that I didn't find your display today humorous," the brawny teenager continued after calming his voice, "but it's not even remotely funny how upset Rin was about it! He barely swam during practice, and when he did, his time lagged behind the worst members on our team because he was too busy thinking about you to concentrate on his swimming. And during the ride back to Samezuka, the only thing he talked about was you! 'What's wrong with Haru? Why the hell isn't he telling me what's wrong?' Do you know how pissed off I am about that?"

Haru shrunk back as Sousuke continued to spout out obscenities concerning the issue. "It's not my fault..." The freestyle swimmer mumbled in a barely audible voice. 

"Not your fault?" Sousuke sharply snapped, harshly grabbing one of Haru's exposed shoulders. "Are you saying I'm to blame? You're the one who couldn't hold your shit together and ended up dragging everyone down with you," he bit out the harsh words, "and for doing that to Rin, you're going to pay."

In a panicked frenzy, Haru jerked out of Sousuke's hold and threw himself into the pool. However, he only managed to swim an arm's length before a larger body crashed into the water and dragged him into a malicious embrace. Haruka struggled against the cage of muscular arms, but the water only served as a hindrance to his evasive maneuvers, forcing a wave of exhaustion to splash over him and causing his body to succumb to fatigue within Sousuke's cruel grip. 

"Rin is willing to throw everything away for you," Sousuke breathily huffed into Haru's ear, "it's disgusting, and I'm going to make sure that he learns just how worthless you really are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? Did anyone see this coming? Let me know what you thought and feel free to give me any suggestions you have! I love incorporating what you all want into the story :) thanks everyone!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I tried to get this up quick for you! I was aiming for this coming Friday but didn't have much going on today and ended up writing a lot! I didn't really go over it like I should have, so if you see errors of typos, let me know! Enjoy

"Let go!" Haruka breathlessly gasped while pitifully trying to fend off the foreboding presence latching onto his back. 

"Come on, Nanase," the baritone voice rumbled in his ear, "don't you want to have fun with me?" 

Haru's vehement protest came out as nothing more than a pathetic whine as Sousuke's large hands began to slink down his petite frame, prying the waterlogged pants down Haruka's thighs. Though the smaller swimmer's reserve of energy was nearly empty, he squirmed and wriggled with all of his remaining might in order to keep his clothing in place. However, the flailing was utterly useless in the expanse of water, as he was unable to successfully thrash around with the added burden of having to drag his limbs through the thick, chlorinated substance. 

Never before in his life did water serve as a hindrance, yet in this moment of critical strife, it thwarted his desperation, leaving him utterly defenseless and completely vulnerable. It was the one constant he had always been able to rely on, but it was now abandoning him, just like everything else in his life. 

"That was fast," Sousuke remarked upon noticing Haru's sudden indifference towards the situation, "I was expecting more of a fight from you." He finished ripping the sweatpants from Haru's ankles, letting them awkwardly float away before slipping his large fingers into the elastic band of Haruka's swimsuit. "Not that I don't enjoy your cooperation," the sopping fabric of Sousuke's jacket clung to the other swimmer's naked back as he leaned down to murmur in his ear, "but this is more exciting when I can feel you writhing in my arms." 

Haru stifled a yelp when Sousuke's jaw clamped down on his shoulder, letting his teeth sink in and break the pallid skin, staining it with a metallic crimson liquid. As the sting of broken flesh forced Haruka to flinch, he could feel the brawny male prying the tight jammers off of his cringing body. 

Sousuke began to lap the wound with his slimy tongue, mixing his own saliva into the gash located on the junction just below his victim's neck. The sensation sent a disgruntling chill down Haruka's back, and he began to uncomfortably fidget as his swimsuit was pulled from his hips, yet he refused to give Sousuke the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. 

However, Sousuke was determined to rip a reaction out of the boy, for he was not about to allow Rin's favorite little swimmer to shut out the overwhelming sensations being forced onto him. Once the black jammers were situated at an appropriate height on Haruka's legs, Sousuke used one hand to tug on the flaccid length and the other to tease the sensitive nubs on his exposed chest. 

An apprehensive gasp crawled out of the freestyle swimmer's throat, and the water sloshed as he instinctively bucked into the Sousuke's hand, which was lubricated by the chemically treated liquid of the pool. 

"That's better," Sousuke cooed in response to Haru's irrepressible thrusting, "don't hold back." He pressed sloppy kisses along the shorter boy's jaw line, causing Haru to groan and uncomfortably squirm. However, the pleasure groping his burning genitals locked his body in place, aiding his despairing mind in the act of restraining him. 

Distracted by the fingers sweeping across the tip of his erection, Haruka hardly noticed when Sousuke's hand was removed from his chest. In fact, the only thing alerting him of its lacking presence was a hot object prodding at his rear, effectively interrupting the constant cold of the surrounding water. The familiarity of that sensation was something Haru had only encountered one other time in his life, and the prospect of enduring that same defilement truly terrified him. 

His dull eyes lit up with a fiery blue defiance as he recalled the memory; he could absolutely not allow that horrendous pain to overtake him again. However, just as his body began to flail in a panicked refusal, Sousuke's massive member impaled his tight heat. Having gone through this once before, Haru was hoping that the pain would be less severe, but that wish proved to be fruitless, for the agony was more intense than the first time, as Sousuke completely skipped the process of stretching his intimate ring of muscle before plowing in. 

"Damn, Nanase," the taller teen grunted once his throbbing length was fully positioned inside of Haruka's entrance, "you're as tight as ever - not that I'm complaining." 

As uncontrollable spasms shot up Haru's spine, an atrocious yawp broke through the barrier of the boy's sealed lips. The skin within his tender entrance tore with the unnatural stretch, and as Sousuke pulled himself out of the convulsing hole before slamming back in, pool water filled with the memories of Haru's past filtered in as a second lubricant. 

The boy choked out an unintelligible scream as the chemical components used to sterilize the water burned his internal injuries, adding to the unfathomable pain caused by Sousuke's erratic and animalistic plunges. He gripped onto the strong arm still grappling with his own dead erection and held on as though his life depended on it. 

His vice-like hold was strong enough to bruise, but it only served as further motivation for Sousuke, as it greatly pleased him to know exactly how this violent act was affecting Haruka. "Shit..." Haru's enemy moaned as he fisted the boy's dark hair with his free hand, forcing the young man's head back in order to view his contorted face. "Hearing you scream like a bitch really turns me on... God, and I thought you were good the first time." 

"Stop..." Haru's voice was hoarse and ragged from his horrendous screaming. "Please, pull it out..." 

"No fucking way," Sousuke huffed as his thrusts became even more desperate, causing the water to uncontrollably slosh about, "not until your ass is dripping with my come." 

The smaller male sucked in a shaky breath before releasing a terrible cry of agony. He clawed at Sousuke's arm, scratching red marks into his skin as tears plummeted into the sea of chlorine. 

Fortunately, it only took a matter of moments before a warm, creamy fluid spilled into Haru's painfully stretched channel. Sousuke shallowly rutted into his victim as the remainder of his juices flowed out of his softening length. 

"Fuck, that was good." Sousuke exhaled deeply and pulled his waning member completely out of Haruka. He released Haru from his clutches and watched as the teen limply fell forwards into the water, a mixture of red and white fluid bubbled out of his abused rear and hung in the water in a constant state of suspension. 

After tucking himself back into the confines of his own pants, Sousuke grabbed Haru's floating sweats and tossed them to the concrete. Another moment passed before he seized the back of Haru's neck and hauled him to the edge of the pool, unceremoniously depositing his ragged and barely conscious body next to the soggy pants. 

"I have to apologize for not getting you off this time," the large brunet said as he climbed onto dry land, "but I can't help it if you can't keep it up," he shook as much water as he could from his dripping body before continuing, "thanks for the fun, Nanase. I hope you learned something tonight." 

The thump of heavy footsteps and the pain throbbing inside of his abused form were the last sensations Haru recognized as he fell into a state of unconsciousness, realizing that the water he held so dear had truly betrayed him. 

 

\---------

 

As the door flung open, Rin looked up from the homework he was currently working on. His face twisted with confusion as Sousuke's waterlogged body strutted into the room. 

"I found my wallet." The redhead's best friend stated before pulling his clingy jacket off of his back. 

"Where was it?" Rin asked, examine the way in which Sousuke's body dripped with water. "The bottom of the sea?" 

"Very funny," Sousuke scoffed in reply, "it was at Iwatobi's pool." 

"And you decided to go for a swim with all of your clothes still on...?" 

"I was walking around the edge of the pool while I was looking for it and fell in," Sousuke grabbed the towel hanging from the bed post and dabbed at his hair, "I'm sure you would have to loved to see that, huh?" 

"I bet it would have been entertaining," Rin shook his head, sending his red locks flying around before he turned back to his assignment and let out a soft laugh, "you're hopeless..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think?! I got a ton of comments saying that someone should burst in and save the day, but I'm a cruel person so that didn't happen hahaha but do not fear! More will be coming soon! Thanks everybody :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! I have a few things to say before you read this chapter! First off, I am so sorry that it took me almost three weeks to update!! I had a certain way that I wanted to write the next events in this story, and I just couldn't get it right for a long time. I probably rewrote this chapter about seven or eight times, and it's pretty dang short... I would have added more, but it would take me at least another few days to get that done, and I wanted to give you something since it's been so long! Another thing I want to mention is that many of you seem to want Haru and Sousuke to end up in a consensual relationship, and I am sorry to disappoint those of you who want that, but they are not going to become a couple. When I posted chapter one, I had already tagged Rin/Haru because that is the pairing that will eventually become the focus of the story. Sorry for any confusion!

The bright warmth of the sun basked Haru's body, slowing urging him to awaken from his trauma induced sleep. Blue eyes were met with the yellow rays being cast from above and gently coaxed Haruka back into the world of consciousness. As his senses returned, the physical affliction and horrid memory trickled to the forefront of his mind. 

Haru immediately jolted into a sitting position, sending an electrifying pain dancing throughout his hips and lower regions. Cringing at the awful sensation, the young swimmer came to a mortifying realization - today was not a holiday nor part of the weekend, and with the sun on the rise, students and faculty members would be arriving at the high school at any moment. 

He had to leave. He had to leave, and he had to do it now, before anyone would be able to stumble across him. However, that would prove to be an immensely difficult task, as the severity of his current injuries was far worse than it had been after the last incident. Regardless of that lamentable fact, Haru knew that he could not simply sit around and wait for the inevitable. Therefore, he gripped the band of his jammers and pulled them back into their original position, covering the crusted fluids adhering to his backside and upper thighs. 

It felt absolutely disgusting when the damp spandex snapped over the raw patches of skin on his lower half, agitating the newly formed bruises and internal wounds. Doing his absolute best to brush that feeling away, Haruka deduced that his best option for hiding from the masses would include taking shelter in the pool house. 

It would offer him security from the sweeping eyes of classmates and instructors alike, and after giving himself an opportunity to recover, he could slip away in the middle of classes, eliminating or at least considerably reducing the chance of being spotted in his pitiful state of ruin. 

His limbs shook tremendously as he pried his damaged body from the cement, and though there was enough strength present to hold him up, he instantaneously crashed back to the rough surface when his cerulean eyes met the water's glistening gaze. 

He felt sick as he watched the water sway in its concrete container, splashing calmly about as though the world was in a utopian state, ignorant of the hardships Haru had been forced to endure. 

Rather than rising to his feet and awkwardly limping to wards shelter, Haruka only sunk further towards the ground. In this last week, everything he held dear was ripped from his grasp and torn to pieces, his assurance in water finally joining that tragic list. 

Burrowing his face into his hands and trying to shield himself from further harm, Haru broke once again. His slender figure shook with intensity as tears flowed relentlessly from his tightly scrunched eyes, leaving streaks of sorrow marring his reddened cheeks. An ungodly groan of defeat bubbled out of his throat, and his face burned with the merciless sting of disgrace. 

\---------

With much help from Samezuka's captain, Rei had been making great strides in his aquatic abilities; however, while Rei was extremely grateful to Rin for aiding him with his struggle to preform strokes other than the butterfly, the redhead only had so much time to help him, as he was a rather busy person. Thus, the spectacled man deemed these early morning hours as the perfect time for practicing those other swimming styles. 

In fact, for several days now, Rei had secretly been sneaking into his high school's pool in order to hone his natatory skills, and he could honestly say that his buoyancy was improving with every session of training, albeit quite slowly, yet for a boy renowned for sinking like an anchor, every tiny bit of improvement felt like a grand stride. 

Only positive thoughts filled Rei's mind as the small building containing the swim team's locker room entered his line of sight, for he was quite content with his progress thus far, and while he knew that his achievements were far from monumental, he knew that his capabilities in the water would only expand, and perhaps one day soon, he could glide through the water as beautifully as Haruka. 

That level of expertise was still beyond the limits of his current reach, yet the knowledge that such a possibility existed compelled a smile to form on the young man's lips. Yet as that thought blissfully danced about in his mind, Rei's train of thought drifted to another area concerning Haru - specifically the odd behavior that his senpai had been exhibiting over the last few days. After the incident resulting in Nagisa's lithe figure solidly connecting with the ground, Rei, as well as the other spectators of said occurrence, were able to conclude that Makoto had given them false information, as an individual infected with the flu would not have slammed one of his closest friends onto the pavement for simply pulling at his arm. 

Deductive reasoning forced the second year swimmer to believe that some sort of trauma had triggered Haru's overreaction, though he had no idea what sort of occurrence would have brought it on, as no one but Makoto had truly spoken with the freestyle swimmer since he had vanished from Sasabe's Splash Fest, or "Sprashu Fes" according to the coach. He figured that time would reveal the secrets behind that answer, so he pushed the thought aside as he entered the pool house. 

There were no windows located in the small building, for it served as a locker room, so Rei could not properly see when he first stepped into the darkened area. Though his eyes were unable to perceive anything as he fumbled around for the light switch, his auditory sense latched onto a quiet noise. 

At first, Rei believed the sound resembled a choked sob, but it was quickly stifled and replaced by labored breathing. The young man was slightly alarmed to hear the presence of another person since no one besides Rei himself ever came here in the morning, so in a bit of panic, he quickly flipped on the light and allowed his amethyst eyes to dart around and locate the source of the noise. 

Once his eyes fell upon the crumpled heap of a person collapsed in one of the room's rear corners, Rei immediately blanched and relinquished a startled breath. 

"Haruka-senpai?!"

\---------

When lunch time rolled around, Makoto and Nagisa were each other's only company, for the rest of their teammates were currently absent from the scene. 

"Where's Haru-chan?" Nagisa asked as he took a massive bite from his overly sweet rock and hopping bread. 

"Um... he wasn't feeling well last night, so I think he decided to stay home today." Makoto stated, wearing a smile that concealed his grief towards the situation. 

"Mako-chan, what's really wrong with him?" The blond inquired, taking notice of Makoto false contentment. "And don't say he's sick, because we all know that's not true." 

It was only a matter of time before that question would come up, yet Makoto didn't really have an answer prepared, as he was not entirely certain as to what the correct answer was. "Well, I don't really know... he won't tell me, and he gets really upset when I try to ask him."

"He won't tell you?" There was surprise evident in Nagisa's voice, for it was quite shocking to hear that Haruka would refuse to tell his closest friend something that was seemingly so serious. "I thought he told you everything!" 

Releasing a rather humorless chuckle, Makoto decided that a change of subject was in order, as this conversation was dragging his spirits down. "Not always," he replied before taking a bite of his homemade lunch, "where is Rei today?"

Nagisa shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't come to class today," the little blond crumpled up the empty wrapper that once contained his food, "I tried to text him, but all he said was that something came up this morning," his cheeks puffed out to exemplify his irritation, "Mako-chan, do you think Haru-chan and Rei-chan are just trying to ditch us?"

This time, the brunet's laugh held the essence of amusement. "I don't think they would do that," he replied, "but if our members keep disappearing, we won't have a swim team anymore." 

"Then you better not try to run off on me," Nagisa stated in a partially joking manner, "I don't want to go to tournaments by myself. That wouldn't be fun at all!" 

"I'm wouldn't do that to you," Makoto defended himself against Nagisa's order, "and I'm sure that the others wouldn't let that happen, either." 

The usual cheery smile that was often glued on Nagisa's face returned, for he knew that Makoto's words were true, and after Haru's mysterious dilemma was solved, the team would be unified yet again. Though at the current moment, the blond was blissfully unaware of how long and painful a journey that would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I warned you it was going to be short! I've already started the next chapter and I have nothing that needs my attention for another few days, so I will be able to write a lot during my free time. I guarantee that the next chapter will be longer and more interesting, so please bear with me for a little longer and please let me know what you think of the developments that occurred in this chapter! Thank you all so much for being so supportive and awesome!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovely readers! I tried to get this chapter up pretty quick for you, and again, it's not terribly long, but I think it's a good length for the content. I hope you enjoy!

After Nagisa and Makoto had exchanged a few more sentences with one another, the lunch period arrived at its end, and the boys had to return to their respective classrooms for several more hours of academic excitement.

As the smaller and younger student traversed the hallway, Nagisa saw a familiar head of navy blue hair enter his classroom. The blond sped up his pace and charged at the figure that had disappeared through the threshold.

"Rei-chan!" Nagisa called out as he skidded through the door frame, nearly colliding with another student in his pursuit of his friend.

By the time the more petite male managed to relocate Rei, the bespectacled teen had already arrived at his seat. "Nagisa-kun," he addressed the chipper little blond, "you should be more careful. You almost knocked that girl over."

"But I didn't," came his response in that usual innocent yet sassy tone of voice, "where were you this morning?"

Rei, whose expression was already abnormally somber, stiffened, his muscles growing tense at the question. It wasn't as though he had not expected Nagisa to ask him about his prior activities, but rather that he did not want to divulge the details of his hectic morning.

"Something just came up." He repeated the same words that he had previously sent via text.

"What happened?" Nagisa inquired, not knowing that Rei felt an immense pressure building upon his shoulders as each second ticked by.

"It's nothing important," he replied, awkwardly adjusting his glasses in a pitiful attempt at drawing Nagisa's focus away from the frown marring his face, "don't worry about it."

"Rei-chan," Nagisa whined in protest, "you never miss school, so it must have been something important. Come on, tell me!" He leaned his weight on the butterfly swimmer's desk, inching into the bigger male's personal space with hopes of coaxing out an answer.

"It really doesn't matter..." The words were completely contradicting, for if the subject was truly trivial, Rei would have simply relayed the information and moved on rather than passively refusing to speak about it.

"Now you're hiding stuff, too?" Nagisa sighed, his joy at Rei's return escaping from his body like air from a popped balloon. "I think you and Haru-chan really are planning on ditching us."

While Rei probably wouldn't have revealed anything further, the sudden appearance of the instructor prevented him from doing so regardless of his individual decision concerning the matter.

As Nagisa plopped into his desk located directly behind Rei, the teacher began the day's literature lesson. However, neither members of the swim team were paying any attention to the lesson, for Nagisa was too preoccupied with childishly glaring at the back of his friend's head, and said companion was focused on the thoughts swirling around in his head - thoughts pertaining the absolutely unpredictable scene that he had previously intruded upon...

_"Haruka-senpai?!"_

_The young man hunched in the corner pathetically tried to suppress his pained whimpers, but silencing the noises escaping through his throat did not make his appearance any less tragic, nor did it stop the thick tears from dripping down his anguished face. Rei's bag slipped from his shoulder as he rushed across the room to aid Iwatobi's vice captain._

_"Haruka-senpai, what happened?" Rei knelt down to examine the male in question, yet his closeness seemed to strike a chord of reluctance or fear within the young man._

_Haru unconsciously pressed himself further into the wall, causing his skin to mold into the creases of the concrete bricks and ridges of the lockers. His blue eyes remained wide with a sense of hesitancy never fading from them, yet at the same time, Haru incessantly wiped at the wetness pouring from his tear ducts, fruitlessly trying to erase evidence of the anguish pooling in his stomach._

_"N-nothing... I... I'm fine..." He managed to choke out between choked hiccups resulting from his stifling of sobs._

_Rei worriedly examined Haru's body; it was beyond obvious that he was absolutely not fine, though he did not want to further agitate Haru by denying his claim._

_Haruka was still only clad in his slightly damp jammers, as he had not taken it upon himself to redress, so the majority of his flesh was exposed to Rei's wandering eyes, and the sight they took in was truly horrifying. Bruises marred his jagged hip bones, blood stained patches of his pale skin, and scratches littered the normally smooth expanse of his chest and arms._

_Rei was able to quickly and correctly determine the unfortunate event that Haru must have suffered through. In fact, he managed to deduce that the encounter that currently had Haruka in this pitiful state was unlikely the first of its nature, as Haru's behavior over the last week was considerably similar to that of a sexual assault victim. As the clues began to piece themselves together in his mind, Rei felt his stomach well up with guilt for not have realizing that his friend was so afflicted, yet his expression of sorrow would have to wait, for the wellbeing of this unfortunate young man was more important than Rei's own emotional throe._

_"You need to go to the hospital," the younger teen concluded that medical attention should be the top priority, "and this needs to be reported to the police-"_

_"No!" Haru's voice was surprisingly powerful as he suddenly grew defensive. "No... no one can find out..."_

_Rei was a bit shocked when Haru immediately refused; however, the protest was actually quite logical, as no one - especially a male athlete - would want to admit to being subjugated in such a compromising and humiliating situation._

_"I understand why you feel that way, but no one will scrutinize you for this," Rei attempted to reason with Haruka, "and the person responsible for doing something so... so horrible must be penalized."_

_The other teen remained quiet, save for his sniffling, for a long moment before finally bringing his own dull eyes back to meet Rei's sympathetic gaze. "I-I can't... it would just... it would make things worse."_

_Rei could not fathom the truth behind that statement. It simply did not make sense. How could anything possibly get worse by prosecuting an immoral monster of a man? There was enough evidence coating Haru's body to prove that the assailant was guilty of committing a crime, so there was truly no risk involved._

_"Haruka-senpai, whoever did this needs to be held accountable," the butterfly swimmer replied, hoping that he could convince Haru to relinquish his reservations, "if my assumption is correct, this person did this to you at least once before. Who is to say that he wouldn't do it again?" It sounded rather harsh to verbalized the thought, but Rei had to shed light on the gruesome possibility. "I know that this situation is extremely sensitive, yet I also know that continuing to allow such a person to freely wander about will only prove to be more detrimental."_

_Evidence of Rei's pure hearted intentions shone obviously in his eyes, yet there were so many more layers to this scenario than Rei was capable of perceiving at the present, for he only acquired the absolute basic information pertaining to this hostile offense._

_The broken swimmer retained his silence, once again letting his eyes drop away from Rei's compassionate surveillance. He had somehow managed to swallow the sounds of misery bursting from within his tortured soul, yet it was obvious that he was struggling immensely to maintain a facade of composure._

_"You don't have to deal with this alone," the tender words were spoken in order to coax Haru into a state of solace, "please, Haruka-senpai, let me help you."_

_"If that's really what you want to do," Haru's pleading expression was extremely difficult for Rei to witness, "then help me get home, and don't tell anyone about this..."_

"...chan? Rei-chan!" Nagisa's voice pierced the seemingly impenetrable cloud of thought engulfing the bespectacled teen.

"Huh?" The young man in question swiveled in his desk to face Nagisa; he also took notice that the instructor's lecture had ended and students were filing out of the room.

"Are you okay?" Nagisa proceeded to ask, a crease of worry shifting his brow. "You always take a ton of notes, but I didn't see you write anything down today."

"Oh... uh, I just have some stuff on my mind today," he offered a reassuring smile, but the false authenticity of it only served to further Nagisa's doubt, "don't worry about it."

"You're being really weird," Nagisa noted, cocking one eyebrow to display his discretion towards the abnormal behavior, "are you sure you don't want to tell me what's going on?"

Rei hesitated for a moment; he had a strong desire to divulge the information he had previously acquired, yet Haru's words had ingrained themselves into the young butterfly swimmer's head.

_...don't tell anyone about this..._

"Everything is fine, Nagisa-kun," that fake smile returned to his features as he collected his academic items and stood from his desk, "we should get to practice; I believe that Rin-san's team will be joining us again, so we shouldn't be late."

Nagisa nodded in agreement and began to trail behind Rei as they exited the now desolate classroom; he decided that continuing to press for answers would be useless, as the taller male was clearly not going to relinquish the details concerning his troublesome issue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what are your thoughts? What do you think is going to happen next? I've already planned it out, but I love getting suggestions and including them in the story, so please feel free to give me all of your thoughts! Thank you all for reading :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Halloween! I can't believe it's already November... Regardless, I'd like to thank every single one of you for reading this and commenting! This story got way more popular than I had ever imagined it would! There are well over 450 kudos and nearly 10,000 hits, and that is honestly astounding! Thank you all so much for the support!!!

"I wonder when Samezuka's pool will be fixed?" As the Iwatobi boys casually strolled towards the pool, Makoto nonchalantly pondered aloud. 

"Yesterday, Rin-san told us that the issue should be resolved by Monday," Rei informed him, opening the door and cordially allowing the other two young men to enter first, "so this should be the last day of joint practice." 

"Aw," came the dramatic whine from Nagisa, "I like swimming with Rin-chan and his team." 

The boys continued to converse - though Rei remained uncharacteristically quiet unless directly spoken to - as they approached their small lockers, offering standard salutations to the members of Rin's team that were straggling behind in the race to change and get warmed up. Following suit, the Iwatobi boys exchanged their school uniforms for spandex swimwear and headed to the pool. 

The concrete surrounding the basin of clear fluid had been generously warmed by the afternoon sun, heating the water to an ideal temperature for a rigorous practice. However, before the young men flopped into the pool to begin training, someone grasped their attention. 

"Hey," Rin broke away from supervising his team in order to greet the three young men, quickly noting that one of their members was missing, "is Haru still changing?"

"He didn't come to school today," Rin cocked an eyebrow at Makoto's response, "I think he just needs some time to himself."

"What the hell is with him?" Rin grumbled, more to himself than the other swimmers. "So did you ever figure out what's going on with him?"

"No," the brunet answered the question that happened to be nearly identical to Nagisa's previous inquiry, "he doesn't want to tell me." 

Finding that rather odd, Rin skeptically eyed the large male. "You're not lying about this again, are you?"

"I'm telling the truth," Rin's seemingly harsh words were understandable, considering that the whole sickness thing had been a false front, "I really don't know."

Convinced that Makoto was indeed speaking truthfully, Rin stopped chiding him. However, he was unsatisfied with the answer, for he wanted to know what was effecting his favorite rival in such a negative way. Therefore, he decided that he would be seizing control of this investigation, as Makoto clearly failed when the burden had been placed upon his shoulders. 

"All right, whatever," the redhead feigned indifference when in actuality, he was completely distraught over the situation, "I'm sure you've got your own regimen to stick to, but you're welcome to join us. We're just doing time trials today." 

With that, Rin swiftly turned and began marching back towards his own team, which had been disdainfully slacking off while his attention was focused elsewhere. 

\---------

"Man, that was some intense training!" Nagisa announced as the boys retreated indoors after finishing a rigorous practice. "Gou-chan really made this new regimen tough..."

"She had to," the brunet explained, pulling his towel out of his cramped locker, "the prefectural tournament is only a few weeks away, after all." 

Nagisa's reply was lost to Makoto, for the larger male had shifted his focus entirely onto Rei, who was silently toweling off his bluish hair and listlessly gazing at the wall. 

"Rei, are you feeling okay?" Unintentionally interrupting Nagisa's response to his previous statement, Makoto sought out an answer from the other member of his team. "You weren't here this morning, and you seemed a little off during practice." 

Hiding his face in the towel as he continued to soak up the moisture from his blue locks, Rei offered a vague reply. "I'm a bit tired, and I have some minor issues that need my attention," he worded his sentence carefully in order to relay correct yet indiscernible information, "so I suppose my swimming may have appeared to be strained due to stress." 

"I think everyone here can relate to that," Makoto smiled softly, clearly feeling sympathetic towards his younger teammate, "is there anything we can help with?" He generously added, referring to himself and the spontaneous blond. 

"At this point, I don't believe so..." Replacing his towel in his own tiny locker, Rei responded honestly that time, as he truly didn't think that Haru's current situation could be resolved by simply adding to the list of informants. Besides, Haruka had specifically requested that no one else would receive word of what had occurred, and in that state that Haru was presently in, Rei did not want to disrespect that wish. 

"Okay, but if that changes, all you have to do is let us know."

For the first time today, a genuine smile - albeit, a slight one - made an appearance on Rei's face. 

After several more moments of light conversation had passed, the Samezuka swimmers had mostly cleared out, and Makoto had hurriedly rushed home after recalling that he was supposed to be watching over his two younger siblings this evening. Therefore, a few members of the rivaling team, along with Rei and Nagisa, were the only people still bumbling about in the pool house. 

"Are you ready to go, Rei-chan?" Nagisa asked his companion. "We'll miss the train if we don't hurry." 

Rei nodded his response before following Nagisa to the thick, aluminum door, inadvertently catching a snippet of Rin and Sousuke's conversation as he slipped outside. 

"You're going to visit Nanase?" The larger male asked Rin, his tone sounding a bit vexed. "Why?" 

"I want to know what the hell is up with him. You saw the way he was acting yesterday." 

"That was weird," Sousuke agreed, still coming off as slightly indignant, "but you should be focusing on yourself right now."

Rin's face screwed up in a display of slight irritation. "You're the one that's been slipping up," he chided his best friend before breaking into a fit of amused laughter, "or did I just imagine that you came here last night and fell in the pool?" 

As the door fell closed behind Rei, a silent alarm flared in his mind. He had only heard a short bit of banter between two of his rivals, yet Rin's words indicated that Sousuke had been at this high school's pool in the hours prior to this morning's dawn - in the hours prior to his discovery of a defiled Haruka. 

\---------

During times of crisis, Haru often sought out bodies of water in order to sooth his troubles. Today, however, he pointedly avoided creating any sort of physical contact with the liquid, as it currently held no healing properties. 

Instead of that natural, relaxing aura that it so generously shared with Haruka, the water was only filled with foul memories and a promise for future unease. Therefore, the young swimmers kept himself hidden from the foreboding element and took refuge on the floor of his dining area. 

Since the summer months had arrived, the futon of his kotatsu had been removed, so rather than hiding a portion of his body underneath that layer of fabric, Haru simply slid the lower portion of his body beneath the low, wooden table frame, allowing his torso to rest in a hunched position on the smooth surface, and blankly stared at the half eaten fillet of mackerel sitting upon the flat tabletop. Though, while his eyes were dull and lifeless, a cyclonic stream of madness whirled through his mind, flattening the metaphorical structures that were ensuring rational mental functions.

However, he could not simply shut his overwrought mind off and escape this cruel reality, as too much damage had been done for him to casually ignore the traumatic crisis. Yet at the same time, the pressure that was currently bombarding him was too overwhelming for Haruka to properly cope with and resolve, leaving him in a vacuous state of constant repugnance towards himself. 

An abrupt noise jostled him away from those disparaging thoughts, startling him into a state of hyper-awareness. Those initial jitters were dispelled rather quickly after Haru recognized the sound as the signature ding of his doorbell, though he remained on edge from the shock derived by the unwelcome interruption to his silence. 

He figured that the person hoping to gain access to his home was most likely Makoto, or perhaps Rei, but he did not want to interact with either of them - or anyone for that matter - so he placed his head back onto the table and ignored the presence; whoever it was would eventually go away, and the rearmost door in his home was actually locked today, so he would not have to deal with any undesirable intrusions. 

However, his mystery guest did not relent when Haru refused to answer the door, for the bell sounded once again... and again... and again... 

Annoyance and irritation was added to the pile of factors weighing Haruka down, yet he was still vehemently against the idea of socializing, but the persistence of that damn doorbell was driving his already wrecked mind over the edge of insanity. So, with a throbbing pain running through his lithe hips and lower back, Haruka grudgingly crept towards the front door to ward away the obnoxious individual. 

His reluctance towards revealing the face belonging to that incessant bell-ringer was not born from fear, as he was positive that Sousuke was clueless as to his where he privately resided; his hesitance was derived from the mere fact that he was going to confront this person, as he truly did want to avoid, or at least strictly limit, his contact with people, especially while his noticeable physical injuries healed. 

As he approached the foyer, however, a decent idea sprung to the forefront of his mind: he did not have to open the door in order to shoo away this pest. He could candidly verbalize his desire for their departure and be done with the whole ordeal, allowing him to return to his restless isolation. 

His plan was not brought to fruition before the pesky visitor spoke out, however. 

"Haru! Answer the door!" The words barreled through the barrier that was the front door; their speaker clearly intended to have Haruka hear them regardless of his location in the house, as the command was spoken at an alarming volume. 

"Rin?" Haru let the name roll off his tongue, quietly asking for confirmation concerning the identity of the person standing just outside. 

Said person obviously heard Haruka's soft murmur and immediately responded. "Yeah, it's me," he stated, lowering his voice to a much more reasonable volume upon realizing that Haru was located within a close proximity to the foyer, "open the door."

Haru felt his stomach churn as beads of sweat began to materialize on his clammy flesh. Of all people, why did Rin have to appear at his doorstep? 

"No," Haru managed through the gut-wrenching sickness building in his system, "go away." It wasn't as though he didn't want to see Rin; that was not the case at all. The issue would more accurately be described by claiming that Haru was afraid to see Rin due to Sousuke's cruelty. 

"Nope," came a rather curt reply from the redhead, "I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me, so save us both some time and open the damn door." 

Stubbornness was an attribute that both of these swimmers claimed, but in his condition of mental unrest, Haru was the first to relent. However, he did not plan on granting Rin access to his home. Instead, he would simply crack the door open and supply the redhead with a few false answers to satiate his desire. 

He clicked the lock out of its place and maneuvered the sliding door so that it was approximately five or six inches open, yet in a motion faster than Haru could currently register, a hand from outside curled its fingers around the wooden frame and jerked the door into a fully ajar state. 

Startled by the abrupt and rough motion, Haruka staggered back, his azure eyes wide as he awkwardly retreated from the the entryway. 

Rin took notice of his odd behavior, but he did not hesitate to step inside the home after somewhat forcefully gaining entry. Sliding the door back into its original position, a pair of adamant red eyes met reluctant blue. 

"Haru, we need to talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think this chapter is a little longer than most, but I'm not entirely sure. Either way, please let me know what you thought, and feel free to give me suggestions! Thanks guys!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to have this update done by last weekend, but it took quite a bit longer than I thought, and this chapter isn't even that long! But in my defense, it was really hard to write....

"What is going on, Haru?" Rin stood with his back facing the front door, his arms crossed to display his insistence for straightforward and truthful answers. 

"Uh... nothing..." His azure eyes were unable to meet the demanding gaze of his concerned rival. 

"Nothing?" The word was repeated in a tone that was less than amused. "So you've been hiding in your house for the last week for absolutely no reason?" 

"I haven't..." his voice faltered under the intensely concerned gaze of his friend. "I haven't been feeling well." 

"Makoto told me that you were never actually sick." At first, Rin's words were slightly appalling, as the large brunet swimmer had agreed to shield Haruka from the natural curiosity of his companions; however, the thought passively settled with him. Fear and betrayal were becoming a prominent aspect in his life; it was only a matter of time before even Makoto would hop on that metaphorical bandwagon. "You wouldn't even tell him what's going on with you, so this has to either be something stupid that you're too embarrassed to talk about or something that's extremely serious, and judging by the way you've been acting recently, I'm going to assume you haven't been covering it up because it's stupid, so stop pretending that nothing happened and just tell me what's wrong." 

Rin was often relentless when it came to extracting significant information, and the pressure he was conjuring towards Haru was weighing heavily upon the slightly smaller male. "I don't want to talk about it." 

Sighing in exasperation, Rin allowed his arms to flop out of their crossed position. "When are you going to cut the shit, Haru?" Patience was a virtue, yet it was also an attribute that Rin had never been able to completely rein in, and while he didn't want his statements to seem angry, he knew that Haru would not divulge anything had Rin taken the same soft approach that Makoto had offered. "You've been dodging everyone's questions and avoiding your friends, but you can't keep running away from your problems; it will only make them worse. So stop trying to act tough or whatever the hell you're doing and just spit it out already." 

Haruka's impassive face crumbled away, revealing an expression consisting primarily of affliction and stupefaction towards Rin's harsh words; however, hiding beneath the surface of his pained astonishment, there was a deep sense of anger brewing, for Rin should know that if Haru would not speak on a particular subject, there was a damn good reason behind it. 

"If I didn't tell Makoto," he replied, placing emphasis on the name of his closest friend, "what makes you think I would want to tell you?" 

Having a hateful question such as that thrown at him, Rin's own expression devolved. His brilliant red eyes widened for short moment, and his jaw went slack, forcing his rebuttal to come out as nothing more than a disbelieving breath. 

"Go home, Rin," Haru's voice had fallen softer again, yet it still wielded that nasty edge, "leave me alone." 

That demand might as well have fallen on deaf ears, for even though the poison laced in Haruka's previous statement had startled him, the redhead refused to cooperate with the imperative statement. "No," he asserted his opinion, "not until I know why you're acting like this." To emphasize the genuine truth in the statement, Rin maneuvered further into the Nanase household. 

"Leave," Haru stressed the word as it was repeated while shuffling further away from Rin's intruding form, "I don't want you here." 

Taking note of the awkward and uncharacteristic way in which Haru uncomfortably shifted away from him, Rin slowed his pace to an eventual halt. "Haru, you have to know that I'm just trying to help you, right?" 

"I don't want your help!" That same feeling of hopelessness was overtaking his mind, and Haru could feel his anger and panic swirl into an entity that was just itching to lash out once again, though its fury was now fixated solely on Rin. 

"I don't care if you don't want it; you need someone to help you," the smaller boy's rival vehemently asserted his opinion, "and I'm not going to let you push me away." 

Regardless of Rin's statement, Haruka was not finished with this fight just yet. "Get out of my house!"

"No." The word was repeated with the same authoritative tone as before, and the more Rin continually denied his requests, the more distressed and unnerved the poor young man became. 

Releasing a noise that was something between a scream of frustration and an exasperated sigh, Haruka pivoted on his heel and retreated further into the confines of his parents' home, stumbling over his own feet as he quickly sought shelter from Rin. 

However, unlike the docile Makoto, Rin was not going to let his troubled friend barricade himself inside of the nearest room to avoid further confrontation, so, disregarding the exposed fact that Haruka was extremely sensitive to physical contact at the moment, Samezuka's captain shot out a hand and seized the clothed shoulder of Haru's fleeing body. 

A sudden paralysis enveloped the shorter teenager's body; his azure eyes widened with a refreshed sense of dread. However, Haruka quickly overrode that fear with his instinct to preserve his safety. 

"Let go of me!" He yelped and jerked himself away from Rin's hold, yet with the other man's hand firmly gripping the soft material of his shirt, the motion only succeeded in exposing the skin of his right shoulder. 

"Haru, what is this?" Rin's voice dropped into a quiet tone as he examined the newly exposed area as the boy in question continued to struggle. "Is this... a bite mark?" 

Though the current situation already had Haruka sporting a distraught expression, Rin's most recent inquiry forced him into an even deeper state of trepidation. 

"It's just a scratch..." Haru hurriedly mumbled his reply before tugging the fistful of blue fabric out of Rin's slackened grip. 

"That wasn't a scratch," Rin was now certain of his claim, for Haru was protectively clutching his shoulder in order to hide the laceration from his rival, "how did you get that?"

"I... I..." Haruka tried to form a coherent sentence with his jumbled thoughts, yet he was at an utter loss for words. "I don't know..."

"Haru," Rin audaciously fought to keep his voice calm, "please, stop lying to me."

Haruka remained silent as Rin watched his azure eyes uneasily flit around the hallway. After several more moments of that nearly unbearably quiet atmosphere, the redhead felt prompted to speak again. 

"How did you get that mark?" He asked again; at this point, Rin had already concluded that it was derived from some sort of physical assault, though his mind did not dare to venture down the sexual path. 

"I told you," Haru was regaining that snappy sense of aggression, "I don't know."

It was beyond obvious that Haru's claim was a blatant lie, and even though he did not want to match the freestyle swimmer's aggression, Rin's frustration was bubbling up again. 

"Don't give me that shit, Haru," the rival team's captain barked, growing fervent yet again, "I know someone hurt you, and I want to know why!"

Haruka felt a mental restraint break, and the dam that had been imprisoning his most secretive thoughts was finally shattered on account of Rin's incessant prying. 

"Then ask Yamazaki!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to keep them in character, and I'm hoping I succeeded! Let me know if I did! As I said in the notes before this chapter, I had a difficult time writing this. I feel like Rin gets worked up and angry over stuff like this, but I also feel like he is compassionate and truly cares about his friends, so I tried to portray that. And as for Hadu, I tried to show how he is trying to keep himself under control but is having an increasingly hard time keeping himself in check. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a little bit longer to write than originally planned... but I say that when I post every chapter. Either way, this one is quite a bit longer than usual and does not have a severe cliffhanger! Yay! (I say severe because it's sort of impossible not to have a little bit of one when posting chapter by chapter)
> 
> Also, I finished this at around 7 am so I apologize if there are grammar mistakes... Regardless, enjoy!

It was a rather quiet and boring night at the Samezuka dormitories; nothing of interest was happening, so most of the students were utilizing the silent atmosphere to complete various academic assignments. Sousuke, however, had already finished his daunting school work, so he was currently relaxing in his portion of the bunk bed, listening to music as it streamed through his earbuds, yet even the loud rhythm pounding in his ears could not mask the sound of the door unceremoniously banging into the wall when Rin forcefully flung it open. 

Judging by the loathsome frown etched into Rin’s face and barbarity of his actions, Sousuke could easily deduce that his best friend was in a state of outrage, which, being informed of the redhead’s previous whereabouts, caused Sousuke to immediately assume the worst; it was quite possible that Rin was now fully aware of the heinous and corrupt crimes that he had committed. However, the larger male feigned an expression of indifference and simply removed his thrumming headphones when Rin approached the bed, a vicious snarl pulling at his angular features.

“What did you do to him?” The enraged swimmer growled in Sousuke’s face as he sat up in his bunk in order to hop off the bed.

Instead of admitting directly to his vile acts, Sousuke decided to find out exactly how much that ludicrous dolphin boy had disclosed to Rin, as there was no benefit from incriminating himself if Rin was not knowledgeable on the entirety of the circumstances. 

“What are you talking about?” He replied, not allowing his voice to sound overly clueless as he carefully examined Rin’s heated expression.

“What did you do to Haru?” The redhead addressed the subject with which the question concerned. “Before he managed to lock himself in his room, the last thing he said to me was about you.”

“And what exactly did he tell you?” Sousuke held up his façade of confusion, though his face remained rather impassive, for he did not want to portray complete innocence since his captain obviously acquired a bit of intelligence from Haruka.

Rin’s expression deepened to reveal a less than appealing scowl. “He said that I should ask you why he’s been acting so insane,” he coldly answered the question before tacking on an additional threat, “if you’ve been keeping something about this from me, I swear that I’ll kick your ass.”

The thought of Rin beating down Sousuke did not seem too imposing; while Rin was a bit bulkier and taller than Nanase, Sousuke was still considerably larger and more muscular. This was not to say that Rin would not be able to knock some sense into his friend, however; it was a simple testament to the fact that the heftier male would be able to retaliate with a greater force if this inevitably resulted in a physical confrontation. 

But that would be ultimately counterproductive for Sousuke. He hadn’t assaulted Haruka to draw Rin’s attention to himself; he had initially done it out of his pure, jealous rage, for it seemed that the damn freestyle swimmer had received some sort of god’s blessing, and he strongly felt as though that was an extreme injustice. Haru was considered a prodigy in the aquatic atmosphere; his talent for gliding through the rippling surface was utterly prolific whereas Sousuke had to constantly strain himself in order to maintain that status, inevitably resulting in an injury that soiled his ambitious goals for the future.

With an unattainable dream in the forefront of his mind, Sousuke naturally began to grow bitter, yet there was still a single ray of potential happiness bursting through the curtains that had shrouded his once bright future; that metaphorical light was Rin. Yet he was also unattainable, for his heart belonged to the same young man that effortlessly accomplished the very thing that ruined Sousuke. 

However, the simple fact that Haruka Nanase had the two things that Sousuke desperately yearned for was not the thought that finally sent him plummeting over the edge that he been so very carefully creeping along. The final provocation that shoved him into this spiral of rage towards Haru was the simple fact that Haru did not want to accept what had been so generously offered to him.

He could be an international swimmer, yet he claimed to have no interest in such an opportunity. He could have Rin, yet he stated that he did not wish to soil their rekindled friendship. He could have so much that Sousuke was no longer permitted to obtain, yet he would not take even the smallest bit of that fortune, and that severely pissed the wounded butterfly swimmer off.

“Sousuke,” Rin barked his name with a sense of repressed ferocity, grasping Sousuke from his internal anguish and slamming him back into reality, “you better answer me. What happened to Haru?”

\---------

Since Rei had known that his senpai’s red haired rival planned to check up on the victimized young man, Rei had delayed his own visitation. However, it had been several hours since Rin would have arrived at Haru’s house, so the bespectacled teen deduced that Samezuka’s captain had vacated the Nanase residence in order to return to the boarding school. Therefore, Rei decided that he could now travel to Haruka’s home, as the risk of happening upon Rin was practically nonexistent at this hour of the evening.

Yet after traversing via train to the portion of Iwatobi in which Haru resided and ascending the moonlit staircase to his familial establishment, Rei’s desire for avoiding contact with persons other than his vice-captain was snuffed out, for the second year student’s clinically corrected vision perceived a figure departing from Haruka’s house and slowly trekking towards him.

“Rei?” A sudden yet slight swell of relief flooded his body upon hearing that voice, as it was clearly not the one in which Rin possessed. “What are you doing here?”

As he casually wandered through the flickering luminescence produced by the dreary streetlamp, Makoto’s addled expression met Rei’s reluctant gaze. 

“Good evening, Makoto-senpai,” the younger male offered his greeting in a stilted tone, “I thought you were watching your younger siblings tonight.” The bespectacled swimmer deemed that this run with Makoto was far better than one with Rin, yet this encounter was still fairly uncomfortable. 

Noting that Rei dodged his own query, Makoto responded to his younger teammate. “Yeah, I was, but my parents got home a little while ago, so I figured that I would see how Haru was doing,” stifling a sigh, the brunet paused for a brief moment, “he didn’t answer the door, though, so he probably wants to be alone. Did you come here to check up on him, too?”

“Uh… yes, I did,” Rei replied, his voice still sounded awkward, “but since he’s not home, I suppose I’ll return to the station.”

“Rei, wait...” Makoto’s benign demand caused Rei’s retreating form to halt. “You… know something about this – about what happened to Haru – don’t you?”

“What lead you to that conclusion?” It was a pointless question, for the answer did not matter in the slightest, and they both knew that. Yet Rei, still with his back turned to Makoto, was not prepared to divulge his newly acquired information to Haruka’s best friend, especially since the freestyle swimmer had begged him to file it away as a secret. Therefore, he instinctually spit up the question as a buffer – a mere intermediary to extend his time before the inevitable reveal.

“It wasn’t that difficult to figure out,” Makoto spared the details of his deduction, as he was relatively certain that Rei could synthesize that information, “will you tell me what happened?”

“I don’t… he requested that I keep it to myself…” Rei uncharacteristically stuttered over his words, allowing the unease consuming his gut to shine through the darkness.

“Haru is stubborn like that,” a fragmented smile briefly appeared on his solemn face, “he always tries to deal with things by himself, but sometimes I think that by taking things on alone, he only causes himself to suffer even more. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Rei released a shuddery breath into the crisp air before pivoting to face the brunet. While it was apparent that Makoto was not fully keyed in on the specifics of Haruka’s crisis, it occurred to Rei that his brawnier senpai had a minimalistic understanding, as he had realized the violence yet remained ignorant of the sexual element. 

“Most of the time, I can figure out what’s bothering him,” Makoto spoke in the silence allotted by Rei’s reluctance to verbalize his thoughts, “but he won’t give me the chance to do that this time…” His shimmering green orbs grew dark as his large form exited the amber rays provided by that dingy lamppost. “Someone… did something to hurt him, right?”

“Y-yes.”

Though Makoto had already categorized that information as fact, the confirmation made his gut twist, for he could deduce not a single acceptable reason for someone to wish harm upon a soul as virtuous as Haruka’s.

“Do you know who?” This gentle spirit was not easily angered, yet Rei could perceive the edge of resentment seeping into Makoto’s words as he demanded the identity of Haru’s assailant.

“I don’t,” Rei steadied his voice before lengthening his statement, “however, I highly suspect a particular person, yet I would prefer to suppress that information until I confirm it with Haruka-senpai.”

A sigh filled with that burst of powerful emotions escaped from Makoto, draining the negativity from his body and allowing him to regain his constant, gentle nature. “Then for the time being, I suppose all I can do is wait,” the backstroke specialist determined his place in the current state of affairs, “and Rei, you need to help Haru get through this. Regardless of his wishes, you need to do what will benefit him the most.” 

\---------

Rin held his silence after pressing his childhood friend for answers, yet what little patience remained in his near empty supply of tolerance was depleting at a rapid rate. However, Sousuke was not in a rush to confess to his atrocious actions, which only further agitated the situation and Rin’s boiling anger. 

“Are you going to say anything?” Rin hissed through his ground teeth. “Or are you just going to keep standing there?” 

Closing his eyes and relinquishing a breath filled with all of the emotions he was too arrogant to show, Sousuke contemplated his possible courses of action. At this point in time, it was glaringly obvious that Rin was fully behind Haru’s conviction that he was in fact guilty of something. However, that was the only tidbit of information he had collected during his lengthy visit with Haruka, which ultimately allowed Sousuke to skew the truth to an unfathomable degree.

“I had sex with him.”

Rin’s angry expression dropped from his face, and for a brief moment, it was completely blank before a look of absolute bewilderment clambered to power.

“You what!?” Rin erupted at an unprecedented volume, his voice reverberating around the room for several moments after the initial sound wave had been cast into the air.

“He didn’t tell you because he was afraid that you would be angry with him,” Sousuke began to twist this inconceivable mess into a story that would clear his own name, “he knows that you have feelings for him, and he didn’t want to ruin your friendship.”

“B-but…” The redhead sputtered, his brain speeding far beyond his verbal abilities. "What... what about...?"

“During the Splash Fest, I happened to run into him before the race and things got a bit out of hand,” Sousuke calmly explained, wearing a mask of remorse to further convince Rin of this false truth, "I had accidentally left several marks on his body, and he refused to swim since people would inevitably see them.”

Sousuke continually spouted nonsense for several more minutes, completely shrouding every incident involving Haru’s strange behavior in a dense fog of lies.

“Rin, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” the brawny male drew his deceptive story to a close, adding his own condolences and apologies in order to convince Rin that this was the reality, “I know how concerned you’ve been, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell you the truth; I didn’t want to upset you.”

After a long bout of uncomfortable silence and uneasy anticipation on Sousuke’s part, Rin finally spoke. “That explains a lot…” His abrupt statement was by no means a remark filled with relief or joy, yet it was a confirmation that this load of utter nonsense had been accepted as the truth, which was a great relief to the one spinning the web of deceit.

However, Sousuke was still extremely displeased, as this falsehood would not suffice for long and inevitably cause greater problems to develop, for his intentions were to remove Haruka from Rin’s presence, yet this ridiculous cover thrust the blue eyed male directly into the forefront of Rin’s mind. Regardless, offering this story of betrayal to Rin was still a far greater option than revealing the true vulgarity of his treasonous offense.

Yet Haruka would suffer the consequences for causing such a superfluous issue to arise…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you see that coming?? I bet not! Please tell me your thoughts! I debated with myself for a long time as to whether this is how the story would progress, so I would love some feedback! Thank yo!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies! I am back from the dead! I am so so so so sorry that I seemingly abandoned you! As I told many of you in the comments, this semester is crazy so far; I'm an art major, and my upper level classes are taking up all of my time. A lot of people assume that majoring in art is easy, but working on the projects literally eats up all of your free time! Regardless, I sincerely apologize for taking two months to get this chapter done and up. It's not too long, and the content probably isn't the most exciting, but I really wanted to get something up for you all. Please enjoy!

With Makoto urging him to help Haruka, as well as his own personal morals telling him to do the same, Rei approached Haru's front door, ringing the bell with a definite sense of purpose. However, even after several moments of patient waiting, his arrival was not acknowledged by Haru, as the elder swimmer never came to answer the door. Yet that did not surprise Rei in the least, as he had just previously come across Makoto, who was quite dejected after being blatantly shunned by his best friend. 

Yet unlike Makoto, Rei knew the exact severity of Haru's situation; therefore, he decided that he could not simply walk away without at least checking up on his senpai - even if that meant intruding upon the older male's privacy. 

So, he decided to do what every normal person would - check to see if the door was unlocked, which, knowing the blue eyed teen, was always a viable option. The fact that the door slid open with no resistance slightly irked Rei, however, for he found it rather unsettling that a victim of repeated sexual assault was only separated from his predator by an unsecured door. Though, the bespectacled man was unaware that it had been locked until Rin had arrived and left in a flurry of confusion and anger. 

Obsessing over that detail was quite the waste of time, especially considering that the lack of security had granted Rei access to Haruka's home. While gently resealing the front door behind him, Rei removed his shoes and stepped out of the foyer, slowly proceeding into a deeper part of the house before realizing that his unwarranted presence may startle Haruka. Therefore, Rei decided to verbally alert Haru of his current location. 

"Haruka-senpai?" He spoke loud enough for the elder to be able to hear his voice from any region of the house while ensuring that his intimation was gentle enough to reduce the risk of sending Haru into a panic. "I came to see how you are doing." 

After waiting for a silent moment, Rei decided to search for Haru. He checked the various rooms located downstairs yet found little more than a partially picked apart piece of mackerel to testify for Haru's presence. Thus, he trotted to the upper level of the home and continued his investigation. Trying to allow Haruka to retain some semblance of privacy, Rei avoided snooping through the rooms that were unlikely to be harboring his target, which caused the butterfly swimmer to quickly arrive at Haru's true shelter: his own bedroom. 

Using the back of his fist to gently knock on the wood blocking him from entrance, Rei called out again. "Haruka-senpai, are you in there?" 

Just as it seemed as though that room was also vacant, Rei heard a soft "what?" resonate from within the room. 

"Do you mind if I come in?" Rei asked after receiving confirmation that Haruka was indeed located behind this door. 

After a short minute passed, Rei heard some quiet shuffling accompanied by soft footsteps; within the next moment, the door creaked open several inches. "What do you want?" 

Even in the shadowy light being cast by the hall's ceiling lamp, Rei could see that Haru's face was stained an unappealing red and his eyes were bloodshot and swollen, indicating that he had recently been upset. "I wanted to see how you were doing," Rei shyly replied, trying to not further irritate Haruka's obviously fragile state, "and I also wanted to ask you a few questions..." 

Fully expecting to be shot down immediately, Rei was rather surprised when Haruka continued to blankly stare rather than shoo him away. In fact, Haru remained completely silent, which was a rather shocking development according to the taller yet younger swimmer. However, Rei did not yet know of Haru's interaction with Rin, and while he knew that the redheaded male had planned on visiting his favorite rival, he had no clue as to whether or not he had actually come in contact with Haru, much less the words that the two had heatedly exchanged. 

However, rather than analyze Haru's mellowed behavior, Rei decided to utilize this unusual compliance to acquire the answers he had so desperately been seeking, yet he determined that the conversation should not be introduced with an accusation towards Sousuke, which lead to a poor attempt at easing into the subject with a more casual inquiry. 

"How are you feeling?" He asked, receiving nothing more than that same blank expression in response. 

However, an eventual answer came from the somber swimmer. "Not great," the hoarseness of his voice became more apparent with each word, "is that all you wanted to ask me?" Haru's exhaustion towards all of this was extreme, for the situation was finally forcing him into a position that perpetually worsened with the sickening tick of each passing second. That was to be expected, however, for his ferocious efforts at keeping Sousuke's actions a secret were all for naught, as his own foolish mouth had betrayed him and ruined the secrecy he had sworn himself to. Therefore, he saw no point in fighting this injustice any longer. All he wanted now was to give up. 

"Uh, no... there's something else I was hoping to talk to you about."

Haruka blinked slowly; his eyelids sagged heavily to express the sheer amount of depression he felt within. 

"Then what is it?" 

Rei noticed that Haruka's demeanor was completely different than that of this morning, as the defensiveness was overrun by a sense of warped acceptance. 

"Uh, well... you see," Rei was trying to keep his thoughts in order so that Haru could feel as relaxed as possible, but this topic was just not allowing him to do so, "the Samezuka Swim Team was training with us again today, and at the end of practice, I happened to overhear a bit of the conversation between Rin-san and Yamazaki," he stated, refraining from adding any sort of honorific to the name of Haruka's attacker, "it seems that Yamazaki was at our pool last night, and since you were also there, I-"

"Rei," Haru silenced his younger teammate, his barren expression boring into the bespectacled man's own uneasy features, "Did you come here just to ask me to confirm something that you've already figured out? Isn't that pointless?"

Rei was stunned into a state of silence, a rare occurrence for such a talkative person. Though what Haru indirectly stated was true - that Rei had already solved the mystery before arriving here - the admittance from the source struck him with an electrifying sense of horror. However, while everything in his mind began to sort itself out after being able to gain new clarity towards the situation, there was one thing he could not understand. Why was Haru suddenly so pliant when it came to this subject? Why was he openly admitting such things? What happened to make him lose the will of that fighting spirit located within his soul?

As if he was examining the inner workings of Rei's mind, Haru answered the unasked questions with a simple statement. "Rin knows."

The second wave of impact exploded in Rei's face. So that was the reason that Haru had been suffering in solitude: he did not want Rin to be dragged down with the knowledge of Sousuke's true colors. Yet if Rin was now aware of the insanity taking place behind the scenes of Haru's now scornful life, there would be no reason for Iwatobi's star swimmer to solitarily shoulder this burden any longer. 

That thought was like a minuscule ray of light shining into this seemingly endless abyss; however, it left yet another question in Rei's constantly churning mind. 

"What happened with Rin-san?" Since the redheaded shark was no longer here, he had to have stormed into the night with malicious thoughts swirling in his mind, which was a rather unsettling thought, especially considering that he happened to share a living space with Haru's abuser...

"I don't know. He left a while ago," Haru sighed and began to uneasily fiddle with the edge of his door, "he probably went back to Samezuka." 

The fact that he had most likely returned to confront Sousuke remained unspoken, yet both of these young men were relatively certain that such an event had occurred, and that knowledge was rather disconcerting, as neither knew how that brutish brunet would react to such an accusation. 

However, while this new development was disconcerting to all parties involved, Rei, being a highly rational individual, was able to see the positivity that resulted from this rapid progression of events, as Haruka was now in a position that allowed him to more freely relay his tragic story to the authorities and end his nightmare. 

"So, what do you plan to do now?" Rather than offering his own opinion as to the course of action that Haruka should take, Rei approached the matter in a manner that would place the least amount of pressure on his tormented senpai. 

"I don't know," came the nearly emotionless response, "I don't want to think about it right now." 

Attempting to console the perturbed swimmer, Rei offered several words of encouraging optimism. "It may not seem like it, but things are going to get better," he insisted, receiving an utterly vacuous stare in return, "before too long, you will be swimming free again." 

Emotion broke across Haru's face for the first time that evening, yet it was not an expression that was in agreement with Rei's positivity; however, the words that accompanied his afflicted face were more stupefying than the expression itself. 

"That's not going to happen," Haruka solemnly admitted, shuffling his feet in an awkward attempt to ease the tension, "I'm going to quit swimming."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I didn't take much time to edit or proofread, so if there are any disastrous mistakes in there, please let me know. Feel free to comment or leave suggestions! Thank you all so very much for sticking with me :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies! I'm finally back! I know it has been forever, so I won't blame you if you want to leave comments about how I left you in the dark for so long. I really am sorry, and I don't have much of an excuse this time. Basically, I fell out of the Free! fandom for a lengthy period of time and got caught up with school work. I hope you don't hate me, but I won't hold it against you if you do!

"You're going to... quit?" Rei's previously optimistic voice dropped into an unsettled tone. "But Haruka-senpai..."

"There's no point in it, anymore," the water loving boy solemnly replied, "I used to think of water as something that could free me, but I can't be free now." 

Rei was unsure as to what an appropriate response would be. He didn't want to see the very person that introduced him to the wonders of the aquatic world to simply stop swimming, but due to the unprecedented hardships he had recently endured, closing himself off from his previous way of life was only a natural reaction for Haruka. Yet it was still heartbreaking for the younger swimmer to witness the prodigy's admittance of utter defeat. 

"I'm going to try to sleep," Haru pulled Rei out of his daze, "tell Sensei that I'm too sick to return to school for a while, and you can tell the others that I won't be coming back to practice." 

Before the exhausted young man could close his bedroom door in Rei's face, the latter requested an answer to one final question. "What reason should I give them?"

"I don't care," a sigh full of remorseful surrender passed through Haru's lips as he retreated into the black shadows of his room, "there's no point in lying, anymore. Now that Rin knows, there's no point in hiding it."

Rei supposed that after Haruka's encounter with Rin, it should not come as a surprise that the eldest swimmer no longer cared about secrecy, yet it was both a bit peculiar and horrifyingly sad that adamant denial Haru had previously been producing was shattered into a state of complete submission. However, if revealing the truth was what the broken soul of this previously free spirit desired, Rei would not deny the request bestowed upon him, yet relaying such horrific information at an hour as late as this would only cause unrest for the blissfully ignorant Iwatobi swimmers; therefore, the young man in glasses would wait until the following day to spread the tragic news. 

\---------

Unfortunately for Rei, the morning sun peeked over the horizon seemingly too early, especially since the strictly butterfly swimmer received not even a moment of sleep. He was too caught up in his thoughts of the dread that this day would bestow upon his friends, too unsettled about the confirmation that Yamazaki had been so cruel to Haruka, and too concerned about the likely confrontation that occurred between Rin and Sousuke after the redhead supposedly returned to Samezuka last night. 

However, he had given his word that Haru's message would be relayed, and his personal reluctance and lack of sufficient rest could not prevent him from fulfilling Haruka's solemn request, especially after the mental and physical torment that the blue eyed teen had been forced to experience. 

Regardless of Rei's resolve, however, approaching his fellow teammates with such a sensitive topic was not a pleasant thought at all, yet it was necessary. Therefore, Rei decided to share his confirmed suspicions with his friends before class was in session, for holding in this detrimental news until the club's activities began would drive the already panicked Rei completely mad with anxiety. So, when the bespectacled young man spotted the tall frame of his captain approaching the school's main gate, Rei immediately flagged him down. 

"Good morning, Rei," the older swimmer greeted his junior upon noticing the shorter teen's attempt to grasp his attention, "how are you?"

Ignoring the customary question asked by the brunet, Rei wasted no time before delving into his intended speech. "Makoto-senpai, when Nagisa-kun arrives, there is something important that we need to discuss."

Taking note of the younger swimmer's serious demeanor, Makoto quickly realized the subject in which the conversation would revolve. 

"This is about Haru, isn't it?" 

The sorrowful expression radiating from Rei's amethyst eyes provided confirmation. 

\---------

"So, what is this about?" Nagisa inquired after the trio had secluded themselves in their poolside locker room rather than attending class as per usual. 

With a nervous glance directed at his two teammates, Rei hesitantly spoke. "I spoke with Haruka-senpai last night," he began, capturing the full attention of both boys, "and I now know exactly what has happened to him." The purple haired youth paused for a moment, uncertain of which words he should proceed with. "But before I tell you that, I should tell you that he has decided to quit the swim club."

"What?!" The petite blond immediately exclaimed. "But... but Haru-chan loves swimming! Why would he ever want to quit?" 

Makoto's thoughts were along those same lines, yet he remained silent, for he knew Haruka the best of them all, and judging by the freestyle swimmer's recent avoidance of water, this seemingly surprising news lost much of its shock factor. 

"Well..." Speaking the truth about such an atrocious event was more difficult than Rei had originally predicted. "Haruka-senpai... he has been through a lot of suffering recently, and he has decided that swimming is no longer an activity that he wishes to pursue." 

"What do you mean by that? Why is he suffering? What happened? And why hasn't he said anything about this before now?" Nagisa bombarded his classmate with questions, anxious yet fearful to learn the meaning behind Rei's vague statement. 

"He was trying to keep this a secret from everyone, but after Rin-san discovered the truth, Haruka-senpai decided that the secrecy he had sworn himself to was no longer necessary," Rei delved into the preliminary details while his eyes met the troubled gazes of Haru's closest friends, "I only know of this because I accidentally stumbled across him directly after it had happened," the young man added in order to prevent the others from concluding that Haru was solely excluding the two of them, "there is not a way to lessen the severity of this, so I will state it in layman terms. Haruka-senpai was... sexually assaulted."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? I know it's another cliffhanger, but I had to get you something after all this time, and writing the events following this would take quite some time, and I just couldn't make you wait longer! I feel bad for making you wait this long! As always, feel free to leave any comments or suggestions! I love reading them and answering them!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back with another update already! I felt super bad about being gone for so long, so I tried to get this chapter up super fast. I'm not sure if it turned out all that well... I tried to keep everyone relatively in character, but it was hard, and I also feel like the dialogue may be a bit rushed. I'm not sure, but let me know if you agree or not and how it could be improved if you feel it needs to be!

After the revelation was finally spoken by Rei, a deafening silence overwhelmed the now suffocating atmosphere of the locker room, as both Nagisa and Makoto were stunned into a state of revolting shock. 

Examining the horrifically bewildered expressions on both of their faces, Rei felt compelled to at least make an attempt at easing the impact of this inconceivable news. 

"I know this is not an easy bit of information to process," he cautiously spoke, keeping a close eye on the altering features of his teammates' faces, "but I believe that if we give him time and support, Haruka-senpai will be able to recover." 

Disregarding the optimistic words spoken by the club's least capable swimmer, Makoto ambushed Rei with a flurry of comments and questions. "Last night, you said that you suspected someone of hurting Haru," he recalled the facts from their previous conversation, "did you know that it was more than just physical abuse?" 

Rei could see the obvious panic and anger lurking in the emerald of Makoto's eyes. "I did," the younger male responded, "but Haruka-senpai requested that I keep that information to myself; he didn't want to concern anyone-"

"And you agreed to that?" Makoto's interjecting tone was pleading; it was as though he was begging Rei for an explanation as to why he would have allowed Haru suffer through this rather than acquire the necessary aid for one in such a position. "And since you're telling us this," the brunet added, "I'm assuming that Haru must have confirmed your suspicion as to who did this, right? Do you know who it is?" Makoto's usually complacent nature had all but disintegrated, for the entirety of his being was now filled solely with malevolent thoughts. While it was rare to get the large brunet worked up to such an exasperated state, it was quite possible when and if Haruka's wellbeing was jeopardized. "Who did this, Rei? Who did this to him?"

"Wait! Wait, Mako-chan!" Nagisa quickly interjected, his voice quivering with both tribulation and chagrin. "Are we really even sure that's what happened?" He forced a pathetic smile on his face and glanced to the team member that he recruited. "Rei, this can't be true, can it? No one would actually do that to Haru-chan, right?" 

While they all inevitably knew that Rei had spoken the truth, it was beyond difficult for any of them to digest, yet the two recently informed boys were reacting in vastly different ways - Nagisa chose to deny it while Makoto seethed in his distraught state. 

"I'm afraid that there is someone who chose to victimize him," Rei reluctantly and solemnly assures them, "and while I'm uncertain as to why, I do know who it was," the bespectacled male admitted, "but before I tell you, you should know that Rin-san discovered the truth last night and has most likely dealt with him in some way." He determined that preceding the ultimate reveal with that fact would hopefully ease Makoto's obvious animosity, for if he knew that steps had already been taken against the perpetrator, it would most likely lessen the brunet's boiling anger by at least a slight degree. 

And so, with one last pause and intake of shaky breath before allowing the name to escape his lips, Rei disclosed the final piece that solved the detestable puzzle of Haruka's misery. "Yamazaki... it's Rin-san's friend, Sousuke Yamazaki."

"Sou-chan...?" Nagisa's voice was barely audible as he choked out the nickname he had devised for Rin's friend. "But... why?" 

Yamazaki's outward appearance always came across as slightly arrogant yet equally as friendly, so it was baffling to learn that he was the one to place Haru in his current state of depression. However, Sousuke's casual demeanor was only a mask, a facade to conceal the raging storm within his turbulent mind, and while Nagisa desperately tried to comprehend the horrors of Sousuke's true nature, Makoto was devising an appropriate way to proceed with his recently acquired knowledge. 

"Makoto-senpai, what are you planning to do?" Rei immediately inquired upon witnessing his captain remove his cellular phone from the front pocket of his standardized black pants. 

"You said that Rin's known about this, right?" Makoto avoided the distraction of meeting Rei's gaze and continued to scroll through his lengthy list of contacts located in the digital device. "I'm going to call him and find out what he's done about it. Before we do anything else, we should at least know what Yamazaki's current status is, and Rin will be able to tell us." 

That was a valid point, for there was no use calling the authorities if Rin had already completed that portion of Sousuke's conviction, and they truly did need to know where things stood at the present before making any rash decisions. So, while Makoto waited for his childhood friend to answer his phone, the other two Iwatobi swimmers provided a silent environment in which their captain could easily hear Rin's voice. 

"Hello?" After what seemed like a literal eternity, Rin answered his phone. 

"Rin, I need you to tell me what happened with Yamazaki last night." 

The impatient tone being conveyed by Makoto was rather confusing to the redhead, for Makoto did not naturally sound so frantically on edge. "With Sousuke?" He repeated the words, trying to discern exactly what Iwatobi's captain was asking him about. "Oh..." His tone fell flat. "Are you talking about the thing with him and Haru?"

"Yes," Makoto was now the one surging with confusion, for it sounded as though Rin didn't care about this dilemma in the slightest, "what did you do about it? Did you speak to him or take further measures?"

"Uh..." The captain of Samezuka's team was once again puzzled; while he agreed that the news of Haru and Sousuke's relationship was shocking, he couldn't quite understand why Makoto seemed this upset about it. "I just talked to him about it. Why would I have done anything more? I get that it's kinda weird, but this kind of thing just happens sometimes."

Makoto's features were overwhelmed with utter bewilderment before he shouted into his cell's microphone. "What are you saying?!"

Rin jerked the phone away from his ear just in time to save himself from enduring the full brunt of Makoto's deafening scream. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He yelled back. "I'm not overly happy about what happened, either, but you're completely overreacting. If they want to be together, then I don't plan on getting in the way, and you shouldn't either."

There was a long moment of silence before the brunet finally reentered the conversation, and this time, his voice was softer and more direct. "Rin, did you talk to Haru last night?"

"Yes. Why are you-"

"What did he tell you?" Makoto interrupted, for he hadn't the time to waste answering Rin's own questions. 

A sigh filled with annoyance passed through the phone line before Rin responded to the question. "He was being his usual stubborn self and wouldn't give me any answers, and then he finally told me that if I wanted to know what was going on, I needed to ask Sousuke."

"And what exactly did Yamazaki say?"

"He said that Haru didn't tell me that they were having sex because he was afraid that it would offend me," Rin's answer was accompanied by another irritated huff, "are you done interrogating me now? I don't really have the time to play twenty questions."

"Rin..." Makoto's frantic tone of voice returned, and while he tried to keep it calm, the change alerted the redhead as well as Nagisa and Rei. "That's not... Yamazaki lied to you. It's true that he... had sex with Haru, but Haru didn't want to; he was forced into it."

There was yet another moment in which everyone was hesitant to speak, but Rin eventually broke through the silent tension. "That's not true... Sousuke would never do something like that..." While he intended for his words to sounds resolute, his voice faltered, for as much as he wanted to believe that such a possibility was absolutely improbable, the supporting evidence did favor Makoto's claim rather than Sousuke's story. 

However, Sousuke had been the closest friend that Rin had ever made; they had a connection deeper than the vast ocean, for Sousuke was truly someone who could understand Rin's complexity on a level that no one else could. Therefore, this knowledge wounded him in a more severe way than the others, for he was directly connected with both parties involved whereas the others only cared for Haruka. 

"I wish I could say that this is just a cruel joke, but I can't," Makoto was finding that sharing the truth with others was nearly as difficult as the initial discovery of the information, yet unlike Rei, the brunet's nurturing and gentle nature allowed him to convey the message in softer and more effective way, "and I think you might have realized that by now. We've all seen how Haru has been acting recently, and that behavior wouldn't come from a consensual relationship." 

It would be false to surmise that Rin did not trust that Makoto was correct, but it was also true that he was having a more than a hard time absorbing these facts. 

"I don't think that you should say anything else to Yamazaki about this since it's hard to say what he'll do," Makoto instructed Samezuka's captain, "the best thing would probably be to report this to the police and let them deal with; in the mean time, we'll keep an eye on Haru and you should do the same with Yamazaki." 

Through the waves transmitting sound from Rin's end of the line, Iwatobi's most proficient backstroke swimmer heard a mortified gasp. 

"Shit!" The redhead's distressed obscenity was little more than a whisper. "Sousuke told me he was going to visit Haru..."

"What?" Red flags immediately raised in Makoto's mind, and his outward expression alerted his other team members that a severe problem must have arisen. "Why? How does he even know where Haru lives?"

"Classes were cancelled for the day," Rin explained, "and Sousuke said he needed to see Haru, so I gave him the address... he left a while ago, so he's probably there by now... dammit... I'm going to try to catch the next train, but it will take a while until I get there. If what you told me is true, you'd better get to Haru's house fast." While the redheaded captain wanted to retain faith that Sousuke would never commit such a heinous act, the odds were not in his favor, and the possibility that his childhood best friend could be intending to assault Haruka at this very moment was a revolting realization, and Rin knew that he could not stand idly by while such an atrocity could be occurring. 

However, Rin was not the only one repulsed by that idea, for Makoto was petrified when his mind became aware of that probability. Yet unlike the redhead, who was an unfortunate train ride away from Haruka's home, Makoto could easily sprint there in mere minutes. Thus, after rapidly exclaiming to Rei and Nagisa that his presence was needed elsewhere, he bolted for the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think? I know this chapter is a relatively long one for me, since I usually write short chapters, but that doesn't matter all that much. Let me know if you think I did a good job or not; like I said in the notes above, I don't know if this chapter came out all too well. I guess I won't know until I get feedback, so please leave me a comment or suggestion!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! It's been so long since I updated!! The last time was at the end of May and now it's November! There are quite a few reasons that I didn't get around to this for so long: I fell out of the fandom for a while, I also started a new job and a new semester of school, I moved AGAIN, and life has just been generally stressful. But you didn't come here to read my excuses; you came here for the next chapter! Though, I have to warn you, since it's been so long since I've worked on this, I'm not entirely sure if I kept all of the characters in character... I tried but this chapter was really hard for me to figure out and then make satisfactory in my opinion. So let me know what you think in after you read!

Sleep was a coveted component that had recently been nearly absent from Haruka’s life during these unstable times, and having the horribly unsettling truth now in the open did not return his mind to a state in which he could easily regain his lost slumber. There were still too many thoughts darting around in his mind for him to gain any semblance of true rest. So, rather than drifting off and being able to temporarily put his overwhelmed brain out of commission, Haru was forced to continue analyzing the horrendous state that his life had fallen into.

It didn’t seem fair that he was forced to endure the full brunt of Sousuke’s malevolence, yet the same could be stated for all and any victims of such unfortunate circumstances, and though Haru realized this, it did not alleviate any of his emotional or mental turmoil, for that knowledge did not and could not lessen any of the suffering he had personally experienced.

In fact, the entire ordeal was unnecessarily cruel, for it took the spark that Rin had returned to his life and smothered it, plunging the young man into the depths of darkness, and there was no plausible or acceptable excuse that would justify the extinction of that flame – especially after he had only recently been exposed to its light again. For in the years prior to this, Haru had been treading in murky waters, as the knowledge of wounding his redheaded rival’s pride clouded the crystalline water he had been gliding through, but a few short months ago, Haruka fought his way through the slop that had diluted his spirit and regained the joy that had been missing from his life.

However, this situation was not nearly that simple. For this metaphorical water wasn’t just slightly muddled, it had been turned black due to the turbulence created by this storm. The sun did not break through its chaotic surface in any capacity, and the sunken swimmer could not discern which direction he needed to maneuver in order to obtain oxygen, and the more Haruka struggled to find it, the closer he got to exhausting the tiny bit that lingered in his lungs. So, rather than continuing to flail about and aimlessly expend his energy for naught, the young man simply stopped fighting this formidable sea, for his only option was to give up and be swallowed whole by its malicious waves.

After all, the entirety of what Haruka had been fighting to maintain had already been surrendered. The pride he held as an athlete, the intense passion he had for swimming, the sanctity of his once innocent body, and the protection of Rin and the others’ naiveté – all of that was now gone; Yamazaki had proudly and remorselessly stolen every last bit of it from him.

However, it was entirely possible that Rin’s exposure to the truth could be the silver lining in this overwhelming storm, for the captain of Samezuka’s swim team would not allow Haruka’s suffering to persist after confronting Yamazaki and discovering the horrific actions that had been executed. Yet while these moderately hopeful thoughts surged through his fatigued mind, the young swimmer caught a seemingly large discrepancy in his theory… Rin had not been in contact with Haru since that impromptu interrogation last night, and that was beyond bizarre, for the redhead had been constantly pestering Haru to divulge the details resulting in his odd behavior for days, so after finally obtaining that information, it seemed extremely odd that Rin did not follow through and reconnect with Haru.

The blue eyed youth supposed that Rin may have concluded that he simply needed space and decided to withdraw from pursuing more answers until Haru contacted him, yet that would be rather strange behavior for the redheaded teen, which lead Iwatobi’s star swimmer to contemplate alternative options that could have resulted in Rin’s lack of communication, and there was one possibility that embedded itself in his mind more than any other: Sousuke could have harmed Rin.

Yet it seemed entirely impossible that Yamazaki would lash out at Rin, for his ultimate objective was to snatch Rin’s emotional attachment to Haruka and redirect those feeling onto himself. Therefore, it would be unreasonable for Samezuka’s top butterfly swimmer to completely shatter his progress by attacking his captain. However, the entirety of that brutish youth’s actions were excessive and cruel, so that possibility was definitely plausible, and the thought of such a development was agonizing for Haruka to even consider. Thus, he decided to act in a way that was not typical to his character yet necessary to discern the state of his arch rival and cherished friend.

Since the young man had been lounging about in his bed for the majority of the previous night and current day, his linens had become quite messy, so it took him several minutes of rifling through various layers of sheets and blankets before he located the object that had been swallowed up by the disheveled fabric. Once in his hand, he immediately began to scroll through his cell phone in search of Rin’s name.

After successfully finding the correct person in his list of contacts, Haruka pressed the call button and brought the device to his ear. Though he realized that whether or not Rin answered was not definitive proof as to what occurred after the redhead vacated his home during the previous night, but it was a necessary act for Haru to complete, so with bated breath, he anxiously waited for the redhead to answer.

“Haru?” After what seemed to be a literal eternity, Rin’s voice interrupted the monotonous ringing that he had been listening to, and that was quite relieving, yet before he had a chance to ask his own question, Rin bombarded him with a series of questions. “Are you okay? Where are you? What’s going on?”

“At home,” Haruka solemnly replied after taking a moment to process the hastily asked questions, “but I-“

“Has Sousuke been there yet?” The redhead quickly interjected his next question, and upon hearing it, Haru’s previous feeling of slight relief was completely and utterly shattered. His mind immediately began to panic as those words sank in.

“What…?” That was the only word Haruka could manage to stutter out.

Though no more than one word was uttered by his primary rival, Rin clearly heard the fear flourishing within Haruka, and it became quite apparent that he was retreating into a mode of panic. Therefore, Rin rapidly devised a strategy to prevent further damage.

“Listen, I’ll explain the rest later, but Sousuke was planning on visiting you today,” he spoke quickly and only relayed necessary information, “he left Samezuka a while ago which means he’s probably almost there, so you need to lock your doors right now, okay?”

A weak sound of confirmation was relayed through the phone line, affirming to Rin that Haru understood the situation.

“Stay on the phone with me, okay?” Rin was slipping into a state of panic, as well, yet he forced himself to maintain some semblance of composure in order to prevent Haru from descending further into his own hysteria. “I’m at the station now, so it will be a while until I’ll be there, but Makoto will get there soon. Everything is going to be fine; just lock the doors and wait for us, okay?”

Haru stammered out a fearful “yes” before staggering out of his room and towards the stairs. His head was muddled by a sense of dread that made his entire body feel weak yet equally as heavy. However, the dark haired youth managed to force his wobbling legs to carry his weight down the steps, yet as he rounded the corner shielding the foyer from the stairwell, Haruka felt as though his bodily mass doubled and he nearly plummeted to the floor as an entirely new sense of panic overwhelmed him, for standing just inside the front door was the source of all of his anguish and pain.

“Rin…” Haru breathlessly murmured into the phone’s receiver as he locked eyes with Sousuke. “Yamazaki… he’s here…”

The redhead’s crimson eyes widened to their full potential and his heart missed a beat. Sousuke was at Haru's house, and that could only mean that terrible things would soon occur. However, he would not know of those exact events until his arrival, for Haruka's quivering hand relinquished its grip on the cellular device and the line fell silent, leaving the blue eyed youth completely alone with his assailant. 

"I would assume that most people would lock their doors," the deep, dangerous voice rumbled out of Sousuke's large frame, "but you aren't like most people, are you?" 

Haruka could not manage to move a single muscle; he remained paralyzed in the same spot in which he first caught a glimpse of Sousuke's threatening form. 

"If you're wondering how I found my way here, the answers pretty simple: Rin gave me your address," a satisfied smirk formed upon his lips when Haru's azure eyes widened at the revelation, "of course, he wouldn't have told me unless I tricked him into thinking that you wanted to have sex with me. Though, based on what I heard you say on the phone, my story didn't hold up for too long. 

"I didn't think it would," he continued to speak in a nonchalant tone while carefully watching his prey tremble out of nothing but sheer terror, "but that means I don't have anything to lose at this point, which is really unfortunate for you."

The level of animosity in the larger male's voice intensified as he spoke further while also beginning to advance into the Nanase household. "If you had kept your damn mouth shut, I wouldn't be in this mess," he seethed, taking expansive steps that would place him directly in front of Haruka in only a few strides, "but you just couldn't do that. You had to tell Rin that this had something to do with me, and that was the biggest mistake you have made yet, and the only way to learn from your mistakes," the brutish male was now mere inches away from the more petite swimmer, "is to suffer the consequences." 

As Haru finally mustered the strength to flee from this dreadful scene, one of Yamazaki's masculine hands darted up and captured a fistful of the other male's dark, silky hair. Haruka winced in pain as the strands were yanked back, causing his head to unceremoniously slam into the nearest wall. 

"You don't realize how infuriating your presence is, do you?" Sousuke growled in an aggressively low voice as he watched Haru squirm in his grasp. "You're a prodigy in the water," he roughly shoved Haru further into the wall, "you could easily become a professional athlete," he elaborated while utilizing his other hand to harshly grip Haruka's intimate region through his pants, "and you have Rin, but all you do is take everything you have and waste it." 

Haru but his lip in order to conceal the pained whimpers that were begging to escape, yet that was growing increasingly difficult as Sousuke's hold on his clothed package grew tighter. 

"The way you act is sickening, and I'm going to make damn sure that you realize that," while all of his encounters with Sousuke was unpleasant, it was clear in Haruka's mind that this one was going to be the most horrendous of them all, especially since the wounded butterfly swimmer had reached the end of his rope, "so you better prepare yourself, Nanase, because I am going to fuck you up worse than you ever thought possible." 

Screwing his blue eyes shut as tight as he possibly could, Haruka put forth every ounce of effort he had into mentally blocking the sensations that his body was sure to experience in the approaching moments. However, the sexual and physical trauma that was rapidly advancing into the realm of reality suddenly halted, and a deafening thud resounded throughout the enclosed space, causing both the assailant and victim to turn their attention to the source of that noise, which happened to be the result of the front door being brutally thrown open by a completely outraged Makoto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how was it? I hope you enjoyed! It's another cliffhanger, I know, but please don't hate me for it. I tried to leave it off in a place that was less dramatic than another part. I mean, this is better than ending it when Sousuke first appears in his house, right? Well, either way, I hope you enjoyed reading! Feel free to let me know what you thought! I've always loved feed back and will gladly reply to any comments!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am finally back after disappearing for another eternity... Sorry about that. At least I'm updating finally! Feel free to tell me that you hate me for making you all wait this long!

Two sets of eyes – one brilliant blue and the other deep turquoise – were locked onto the figure looming in the foyer. It was beyond obvious that the intruder was furious upon witnessing the scene that was beginning to occur between Haruka and Sousuke, and though he did arrive before any sort of truly detrimental act had taken place, the animosity directed at his best friend’s assailant did not falter, for it was beyond obvious that Makoto’s sudden arrival was the only thing halting Yamazaki’s despicable actions. 

“Get away from him.” In the haste of this intense moment, Makoto swiftly decided his course of action, which at this point consisted of nothing more than removing Haru from Yamazaki’s grasp, and while he would ultimately resort to any necessary action in order to produce such a result, his affinity for approaching life with a sense of compassion forced him to voice his demands rather than immediately plunge the situation into one of violence. 

While the raw anger was evident in the words spoken by Haruka’s closest friend, Sousuke refused to comply with the command and kept a firm hold on his victim, making it nearly impossible for Haru to wriggle away. 

“No.” The word was an insult, yet Sousuke declared it without any semblance of trepidation in his voice, for even though he was well aware that the other male nearly matched him in terms of stature and strength and could quite possibly claim victory in the case of a physical confrontation, he knew that forcible action on the part of Makoto was unlikely to be taken until Haruka had been released from his compromising position, as it would be entirely possible to halt any of Makoto’s movements by threatening Haru’s safety.

“Yamazaki,” Makoto hurriedly responded to the rejection, his voice still commanding the same level of animosity as before, “this needs to stop. We all know what you’ve done – Rin knows what you’ve done. You can’t gain anything from prolonging this.” 

“Which means that I have nothing to lose, either,” his dangerous turquoise eyes focused their attention on Haruka for a brief moment, “so it doesn’t really matter what happens next; the outcome for me will be the same regardless of what I do now.” 

Instantaneously, Haru’s friend sprang into motion upon hearing those threatening statements; however, Sousuke had anticipated such a reaction and quickly took counter measures to ensure that Tachibana would be prevented from intervening. The hefty hand that had remained upon the blue eyed youth’s crotch during the moments in which he and Makoto exchange words clamped down with excruciating force, bringing forth an unsettling whine of agony from the confines of Haruka’s throat and causing him to writhe in both protest and pain. 

“I wouldn’t try anything if I was you,” the baritone of Sousuke’s voice rumbled out as Makoto halted his movements due to the increased precariousness of the current situation, “that is, unless you want to be the reason that Nanase gets hurt.”

Makoto had reached a stalemate in his mind; differing thoughts battled for dominance, yet none could gain any leverage. For if he was to attempt to physically force Sousuke away from Haru, the brute could inflict severe damage upon the freestyle swimmer before Makoto would be able to arrive at their location. Yet leaving things as they currently stood was also unacceptable, for this predicament would only escalate with the lack of interference. 

“Hurting him won’t do anything,” in his state of mental impasse, Iwatobi’s team captain tried to reason with the injured butterfly swimmer, even though it was quite apparent that Sousuke had long surpassed such a point in which that tactic would prove effective, “please, just let him go.”

As Haruka tugged at Sousuke’s arm in order to obtain freedom, a chilling smirk played at the corners of the latter’s lips, for his success in keeping Makoto at bay would allow him to deliver one last round of spiteful vengeance upon the young man that refused to claim the dreams that had been torn from his own grasp. 

As the tides of this endeavor flowed back under the control of Yamazaki, and Makoto remained in a state of regretful futility, Haru felt himself begin to sink into an abyss of overwhelming distress, yet he was unprepared to entirely surrender his last shred of dignity to this man – especially with his closest friend bearing witness. However, in his current predicament, his options for retaliation were extremely limited, for the painfully pleasing pressure that Sousuke was delivering to the private region of his body was making it quite difficult for him to form a coherent sentence or resist in a physical manner.

However, even in this pitiful state, Haruka knew that there was a chance at redemption, for Yamazaki’s attention was currently split between the two teammates, for he had to ensure that Makoto would not attempt to rescue his friend while simultaneously maintaining a firm yet sensual hold on Haru. And though such a precarious situation would typically result in a stalemate much like the one currently in progress, Haru concocted a plan that would shatter reality’s present status.

During his past encounters with Yamazaki, the prodigious swimmer usually reached a state of mental collapse and ultimately succumbed to the man’s offensive actions. Yet the current scenario was vastly different than those of the past, for this time, Makoto was there to serve as an ally, and though he refused to hastily take action in favor of preserving Haruka’s shameful yet physically unscathed state, Haru was certain that when given the opportunity, his best friend would promptly intervene and drastically alter the situation. 

With that assertion in mind, Haru decided that it was necessary to act at this moment, for his body was being fiercely drained of any resistance as this whole debacle persisted. Therefore, after desperately mustering his waning strength, the youthful swimmer shakily lined his leg up with Sousuke’s partially aroused crotch, allowing himself the perfect opportunity to toss his enemy into a stupefied rage and produce a favorable moment for Makoto to finally gain the upper hand. 

However, just as this hasty plan was about to come to fruition, an unforeseen occurrence brought it to an immediate halt as an enraged figure came hurdling from the home's rear entrance and tackled Yamazaki to the ground. In the extreme confusion of the moment, the only thought that either of the Iwatobi swimmers was able to process was that this intruding entity was Rin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this chapter was so freakin hard to write!!! I had so much trouble and rewrote it about seven times. Please let me know what you think of it. I'm not entirely sure what I think, but I was finally somewhat satisfied and didn't know how else to approach it. Any comments are welcome, and I may add slight adjustments to this chapter since I don't know if I'm completely happy with it, so your input is extremely important this time around! Thanks to everyone who reads this!! And sorry again for the late update.
> 
> I also have a quick question for you all! Someone in the comments was confused about how Rin got inside and managed to get Sousuke. I'm pretty sure that Haru's back door is in the top floor of his house... Is that right? I don't want to have any inconsistencies in here, so please tell me if I'm wrong on that!


End file.
